


Get You

by fierywhiskeyy



Series: One Big Happy Spy Fam [1]
Category: Whiskey Cavalier (TV)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2020-07-09 04:55:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 19
Words: 44,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19881982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fierywhiskeyy/pseuds/fierywhiskeyy
Summary: After Prague, Will and Frankie must determine what they are to each other.





	1. Like a Dream

**Author's Note:**

> for anyone who read my fic "Don't Leave," this fic's one of many prequels to the events which are happening in it and i hope you guys enjoy!

"Target spotted," Will said. "Alright, ready to do what we do best?"

"You sure he's looking?" Frankie asked.

"Yep."

She grinned before saying, "Hell yea."

Will showed a small smile and inhaled in a huge breath. "No! I'm done dealing with your bullshit, Morgan!" He yelled in the lobby.

"What are you talking about, Noah? I'm here for a big photo shoot and you expect me to drop everything so I can go down to the beach with you? I told you I can't for another two days!"

"I get it, you're a model! Why do you always do this!"

"Do what?!"

"Always put work before anything else!"

"What the hell are you talking about? No, I do not!"

"My god you are so in denial!"

"You know how important this gig was for me, so why are you complaining?"

"Because a photographer sees my girlfriend more than I do!"

"Oh please!" She said while scoffing.

"No, you know what? I was actually planning on proposing to you while we were here, but since you obviously don't have the time, I'm leaving!"

"Noah, what?"

"Yea, you heard me, Morgan! And I hope you hear me loud and clear when I say these next words!"

"Noah!"

"We're through!" he yelled before storming off.

She looked around and noticed everyone had been listening and witnessing their fight, including their target. She stormed off to the elevator crying but stopped once the doors closed and wiped her tears.

"That was perfect guys, he saw everything," Susan said over coms to both of them.

The team was in Honolulu at the Lett Waikiki Resort. Owned by the very wealthy Lett family, the resort was meant for celebrities, the wealthy, and was a five-star resort. On the outside, it was the resort every person wished they could stay at when they vacationed, but on the inside, it was secretly a cover for the largest human trafficking organization in the US which the Lett had secretly been running for years. Their newest head of the organization/resort owner was the grandson of the man who originally owned the hotel; Daniel Lett. Daniel Lett was known to be one of the most eligible bachelors in the US and was never seen with one girl for more than a few months, so the team used that to their advantage and planned for Frankie to gain his trust by seducing him.

After their 'fight,' Frankie waited in the elevator until it reached her floor and she went to the room she was sharing with Will for their cover story.

She put her room key into the door and entered the room to find Will watching 'When Harry Met Sally' on the TV as he was drinking wine.

"Hey," he said as she walked in the door.

"Hi," she said quietly.

Things had been a little awkward between them ever since Prague, but not as much as they were before. As they looked at the view of the city of Prague near Prague Castle, they'd shared a trdelnik and talked about fate, leading to the two of them getting lost into each other's emerald eyes. She'd never forget the sweet taste that filled her mouth from the sugar still on his lips from the trdelnik when she pressed hers against his. It was one of their more tender moments and would've been nice to look back on to remember that one time Will didn't have his gun on him, but they were rudely interrupted mid-kiss by an attack from Ollerman's goons. They easily took them down and then were left with the question: 'Now what?'

Will wanted to talk about it right there, but Frankie's instincts took over and she fled back to their hotel. Soon after that, they never could get any time to talk because Standish was attacked by Ollerman and they all were devoting their time to fulfilling their promise to Standish's mom of making him pay for what he did.

They still hadn't talked much about the kiss at that point and things almost went back to the way they were before then.

Frankie kicked off her heels and plopped down next to Will on the couch. She let out a big sigh, then groaned. "Ugh, can you please turn this off? I don't want to watch this it's so cheesy."

"Uh, this was playing on the TV when I got back. Someone left it on and I know it wasn't me."

Frankie's face turned red. She wasn't about to admit she liked that movie. "Whatever, keep it on then, I guess."

"Haha, okay Frankie," he said playfully.

After that, they didn't have much to say. They just sat next to each other and watched the movie until the end credits rolled and they then were sitting in silence.

Frankie looked at her phone and saw it was almost 7:00 pm. "Oh, I gotta get down to the bar. Daniel's gonna be there and I can't miss my shot."

"Oh okay, well...I'll be here."

"Okay."

They looked at each other in silence again for a few seconds before Frankie left.

Will sighed and poured himself what was left of the wine. His part of the mission was over and all he had to do was just stay out of sight so people who witnessed the fight he and Frankie faked would think he left.

He wondered what Frankie was going to do to get Daniel to empathize with her but then he realized she'd probably do the same thing she did to him in the bar in Moscow when they met.

He put in his coms even though he didn't need to and listened in on Frankie who already was talking with Daniel. _That was fast._ He thought to himself. He heard her crying to Daniel.

"I thought he finally was the one person who got me and I was apparently wrong. Why does no one get me?" She asked while sniffling. Although he knew she was acting at the moment, the last part of the sentence she just said didn't seem like she was faking it to Will; he could tell.

"Hey, it's okay. You're a beautiful woman and he doesn't deserve you if he doesn't let you do what you love." 

"Thanks."

"Hey, anytime." There was a long pause before Will heard Daniel speak up again. "You know, you shouldn't be here in a bar crying over your asshole ex. Why don't we go back to my room?"

"That sounds good," she replied in that mischievous tone Will immediately recognized.

After that, Will went off coms to spare himself of what he'd hear after she went up to Daniel's room and called it a night.

As he lay in his bed while the moonlight filled the room's darkness, he couldn't stop thinking about what she said; "Why does no one get me?"

"I get her," he said quietly to himself before falling asleep. 

* * *

A couple of days after Frankie was able to successfully seduce Daniel, the team was set to follow through with their plan to finish off the mission.

"So tomorrow we're going to be shutting this organization down and that'll be it! Great job so far guys!" Ray said over coms.

"Especially to you Frankie! Girl I don't know what you did to get him to trust you so quickly but I'm glad whatever you did worked," Susan added. "Get some sleep guys, big day tomorrow."

"Yep copy that, see you guys tomorrow," Will said. They took out their coms and Frankie went into the bathroom to wash up before going to bed.

Will leaned down to grab his phone on the coffee table in their room and let out a big groan. "Ow agh."

Frankie overheard him and wiped her face with a towel before going to see what he was complaining about. "You okay?"

"Yea I'm fine," he said while rolling his shoulders and arching his back, "this couch is just super stiff and my back is aching. You know for a five-star star resort, their couches really aren't as good as their service."

Frankie smiled and chuckled. "So old," she said as she walked over to her bed.

"C' mon." He kept groaning with every move he made while trying to ease the pain in his back.

She looked at him and did feel a little bad. Whenever they had to sleep in the same room on missions he always let her have the bed and he'd sleep on the couch or even the floor.

She glanced over to the left side of her bed. It _was_ a pretty big bed. "Ugh, Will."

He looked up from the couch.

"Come here." She gestured for him to move to the bed and rolled her eyes. "Just stay on your side otherwise you're going back to the couch."

He nodded and walked over to the empty side of the bed with his blanket in hand. He adjusted himself and turned off his light, leaving only the moonlight to light up the room. "Ahh," he said as he felt the pain in his back go away. 

They both lay there for a long time with their eyes open, both of them thinking the other was asleep. Will was surprised to see Frankie was awake when he heard her groan. "Hey, you up?"

"Yeah, I'm still up, I can't sleep it's freezing here."

"Kind of ironic considering the fact that we're on a tropical island."

She smiled at his comment. "We don't have another blanket and I don't feel like calling housekeeping."

"Well then what do you want to do to warm up?"

She knew exactly what she wanted, but knew she'd regret it later if she did it.

She didn't say anything and Will nudged her. "Frankie?"

"I don't know, forget it, I'll just freeze."

He sighed. "I mean, do you want to cuddle?"

She held her breath at those words. Her instincts kicked in and on the outside, she said, "What? No, Will." But on the inside, she was fighting her urge to just wrap her arms around him at that moment and fall asleep in his big strong arms.

"Okay fine, but we'd both warm up faster," he said with disappointment showing in his voice.

"No, Will," she whispered.

He let out a big sigh and shifted himself to be on his side so he was staring at Frankie.

"What are you doing?" She asked as she turned her head to look at him. She bit her lip at the sight of him, but also let out a giggle. His head was resting in his hand and his elbow was on his pillow supporting it. She still could see those eyes of his, which she'd loved looking into, shining brightly from the moonlight which hit them.

"What did you mean earlier?"

"What?"

"When you were talking to Daniel you said that no one...gets you"

 _Shit, why was he listening?_ She said in her head _._ "You were on coms?"

"Uh-huh."

"Yea so- so what? I was playing my part of a heartbroken model whose boyfriend just broke up with her," she said defensively while stuttering.

"Yea, but I know you, Frankie. I can tell when you're acting or not...and you weren't when you said that."

"You're being _ridiculous!_ " she said.

"Oh my god."

"What?"

"You just did that weird thing where you emphasize the last word of your sentence when you're lying!"

"No, I _didn't!_ "

"You just did it again!"

"Ugh, you're so annoying." She turned on her side so her back was facing towards Will.

"Frankie."

She didn't answer.

"You know...I get you." He said it in a tone which made Frankie feel warm inside.

"What?"

"I get you," he whispered close to her ear, sending a shiver down her spine.

"You do?" She turned to face Will and was surprised when she was met with his face, inches from hers. She looked at his lips and bit hers again.

"Yea, I do."

She smiled at those words and she felt butterflies in her stomach. A month ago she would've fought the feeling she felt inside, but this time, she didn't.

 _Fuck it,_ she said in her head.

She moved closer to Will and pressed up against him, shifting him from his side to being on his back. She rested her head on his chest and wrapped an arm over his abdomen.

Will was taken aback by Frankie but smiled. "I thought you said I had to stay on my side?"

She looked up to him and he admired her innocent expression. He only saw her eyes shining in the darkness from the moonlight that hit them.

"I changed my mind."

He let out a small chuckle slid his arm under Frankie's back and pulled her close.

"You're right I am warmer," she said to him.

"Told you so."

She smiled and closed her eyes.

The awkwardness which was lingering from Prague disappeared and the only thing they wanted was for the moment to never end.

Shortly after, the two of them fell asleep, wrapped in each other's arms. 

* * *

Frankie awoke to the sound of the waves crashing up against the shore. She felt someone's arms wrapped around her and started to panic, but then remembered whose they were and smiled.

She looked up at Will peacefully sleeping like a little baby. She started to giggle.

"Enjoying the view?" Will said with his eyes still closed and a smile.

Frankie stopped giggling and smiled. "Please," she said while rolling her eyes.

Will opened his eyes and laughed at her. "You know. Last night was probably the best sleep I've ever had."

Frankie looked at his lips and back to his big emerald eyes. "Me too."

This didn't seem real to Frankie; she woke up in bed with Will while wrapped in his arms.

Their moment was interrupted by Frankie's phone ringing. "Ugh not now," she said. She went quiet and her face turned red from embarrassment. She didn't want Will to know she was enjoying the moment more than she was showing.

He just laughed at her and she smiled back.

She reached for her phone to see who was calling and the screen read: Susan. "Hello?" Frankie answered tiredly.

"Girl are you up?"

"Yep."

"You don't sound like it. Come on, I want to go for a run on the beach before we leave."

"Now? What time is it?"

"Time for you to get your butt out of bed. Meet me in the lobby in fifteen minutes!"

"Fine, but you owe me."

"See ya soon!" Susan said as she hung up the phone.

Frankie sighed and gave one last look at Will. He looked so funny yet sexy with his hair all tousled. She smiled and got out of bed.

"Where are you going?"

"Susan's making me go on a run with her."

"Ooh, I'll join."

"Invite only."

"Always is," he said back disappointedly.

She chuckled and went into the bathroom to change into her running clothes then afterward grabbed her things and looked back at Will when she was about to go through the door.

"Can we not mention last night to the team? I don't want them to take it out of proportion and if Susan found out I know she'd be all up in my face, asking questions. You get it, right?"

"I get it," he said with that smile on his face which he thought was so charming.

"Of course you do," she said with a small grin on her face." See ya later, Whiskey."

"See ya, Fiery."

She left the room and Will flopped his head onto his pillow and let out a big sigh. Last night to both of them was like a dream.


	2. Bound to Happen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will and Frankie must face what's bound to happen to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! i haven't updated this fic in so long oofie. pls make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments and i hope you enjoy!

Frankie exited the elevator to see an impatient Susan sitting in the lobby waiting for her. She checked her watch to see she made it down there in thirteen minutes. Frankie decided to use those extra two minutes she had to do something and went over to the front desk.

"Hi, can I arrange for some room service to be brought up to my room?" She asked the lady sitting there.

"Of course. What would you like to order?" The lady asked her.

"Eggs and bacon with some coffee, please."

"Alright, we'll have that sent up soon."

"Thank you." She then approached Susan and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, Susan."

Susan sprang out of her seat. "Frankie! What the hell?" 

"What!?" She answered, confused.

"I told you to be down here in fifteen minutes; you took twenty!"

"No, I didn't." Frankie checked her phone to see she'd actually taken longer than expected when ordering room service for Will.

"Yes, you did. What were you doing in those five extra minutes?"

Frankie quickly came up with an excuse. "I couldn't figure out which exercise clothes to wear."

"Please! _You_ worrying about your outfit? In what universe?"

Frankie shot her a death stare.

"Sorry geez. C'mon I want to get this run in before we have to take down Lett!"

"Ok, ok, let's go."

They headed down to the beach and were met with the bluest water they’d ever seen.

Susan shook her head in awe of the ocean’s beauty. “Wow.”

“Yeah. Wow.” Frankie smiled at Susan before taking out her earbuds from her pocket.

They began running and Susan looked over to Frankie.

“WOW.”

“What?”

“I ask you to go on a run with me and you weren’t even planning on talking to me?” Susan scoffed jokingly.

“Sorry,” Frankie replied as she shrugged. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Hm. How’s Daniel?”

“Ugh, he’s actually so clueless. I have no idea why they’d hand off the family business to him and not his brother or sister who both went to literally Brown and Columbia while he went to community college.”

“Well, you _skipped_ college so..."

She shot Susan another death stare.

"Yikes, sorry. Well, Daniel's the firstborn and the favorite so his dad chose him instead of his other siblings who apparently have no clue what's happening.”

“What do you mean?”

“Whenever a new member of the family gets passed down the baton, they’re introduced to the organization for the first time so basically no one in the family besides the leader of the organization has no knowledge of what’s happening unless they’re needed.”

“Ugh, that’s annoying.”

“Yea but don’t be annoyed much longer, we’re shutting this thing down today.”

“Thank god.”

Susan smirked. "I uh actually wasn't asking about him personality-wise."

"Oh." Frankie laughed nervously. "He's fine, I guess, but I've encountered better. _Way_ better."

"Yikes," she said while laughing. "Oh! How’s Will been? We haven’t been able to see him since his part of the mission was complete.”

“He’s fine!” Frankie replied defensively.

“Woah. How’s sharing a hotel room? Seems like he’s getting on your nerves.”

“It’s fine! Same sleeping arrangement as _usual!_ ”

“Oh my god! What happened between you two! Did you sleep together?”

“What are you talking about Susan? I said it’s the same sleeping arrangement as _usual_!”

“No, it’s not. I’m good at my job for a reason and that’s because I can read people like no one else can. Oh, but honestly I know because of that thing you do when you lie to family and friends.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking _about_.”

“You just did it again so I know you most definitely know what I’m talking about.”

 _Shit, I gotta fix that_.

“Sooo did you sleep together!?”

“What? _No!"_

"OH MY GOD!"

"Shit!”

“YOU DID!”

“You’re so annoying.”

“Spill!"

"'We didn't have sex."

"Yes, you did."

"We didn't."

"Then why are you lying about sleeping together?"

"Okay, okay fine. I know you're going to bug me about it later so...we may have _slept_ together, but nothing more than that."

"Huh?"

"We did, _technically,_ sleep together, but we didn't have sex."

"Wait, wait, wait. So you're telling me, that _you_ were in the same bed with Will..."

"Yep."

"...and you two slept together..."

"Uh-huh."

"...but there was no sex?!"

"Wow, you're so good at this game, Susan."

"Girl! You just _slept_ with him?!"

"Yep, yep, _yep_." 

"Oooh, what happened when you two slept in the same bed?!"

 _Ugh, why does that keep happening?_ "Nothing...I mean, well, it might've gotten a bit cold in our room so Will suggested we cuddle together and I told him 'no,' but then he told me he gets me and then I couldn't resist so then we ended cuddling and this morning I woke up in his arms, but nothing other than that!"

Susan stopped running. "I'm sorry. WHAT?"

"Don't make a big deal out of it, okay."

"How can I not make a big deal out of it?"

"It was a one-time thing and I'll...probably never do it again," Frankie said with hesitation in her voice.

"Yeah, _probably._ " 

"I won't."

"Mhmm, ok, you keep telling yourself that."

Frankie hesitated again. "I won't."

* * *

After an hour, Frankie and Susan returned to the hotel lobby.

"Whew! I need food after that run. Want to get something?"

"I'm actually going to go to my room to wash up."

"That's not the only thing you're going to be doing," Susan mumbled.

"You're so annoying."

"What!? I didn't say anything," she replied with a grin on her face.

Frankie rolled her eyes. "I'll see you later."

Susan smiled and left to go get breakfast.

Frankie went back up to her room and walked into it to hear the shower running from the other side of the bathroom door. She put her stuff down on the nightstand and saw the room service sitting on the coffee table with only the bacon left on the plate. "Will?"

"Yeah?" He shouted through the bathroom door.

"Can you hurry up? I need to take a shower, I'm all sweaty!"

"Okay, I'll be out in a sec!" He replied.

She went over to the coffee table and ate the bacon from Will's plate without caring if he wanted it. She then got undressed and wrapped herself in her towel. After a minute, Frankie heard the shower turn off.

The bathroom door opened and Will stood there with only a towel wrapped around his waist. Will was caught off guard at the sight of Frankie in a towel. He cleared his throat. "Hey, you."

"Hi," she replied back. She bit her lip at how he looked. His hair was wet and all messed up while his body had a glow to it which made him look even sexier than he usually did.

Will couldn't help but stare at her too.

She chuckled when she saw him staring. "I'm going to get in the shower now. Big day ahead of us."

Will was too busy staring at her to say anything so he just nodded his head.

She walked into the bathroom while making sure that Will was still staring and swayed her hips, making him clench his jaw.

Once she went into the bathroom, Will sighed and got ready for the day.

* * *

"Daniel just texted me. He wants me to meet him at Chef Mavro for dinner," Frankie told everyone on coms. "Ugh, he managed to get the whole place to ourselves."

"That place is so expensive," Ray commented.

"How would you know?" Susan asked him.

"Because I tried to get us reservations that one time we were here by ourselves."

"Aw, that's sweet of you," she replied.

"Can you two not do that over coms?" Standish asked.

"Right, sorry," Ray said as he cleared his throat. "Will, go with Frankie to the restaurant for backup. Frankie, the sedative you have to put in his food should work pretty quickly so he might pass out on the spot. Susan will meet you in the back of the restaurant to transport him to the Honolulu PD where he'll be further questioned. A SWAT team is going to be infiltrating the location of the human trafficking headquarters while this is all happening so we just need to make sure we get Daniel."

"Got it. I'll get ready and then we'll head to the restaurant," Frankie said.

After waiting for ten minutes, Will was getting impatient. "Frankie! Let's go!"

"Okay, I'm coming!" She said through the bathroom door. A few moments later, the bathroom door swung open to reveal Frankie wearing a tight black dress which was completely backless. 

Will was blown away at her beauty. "Wow."

"What?"

"You look...amazing."

Her face turned red from blushing. "Thanks," she said with a smile.

He smiled back at her and for a minute, they just smiled at each other without saying anything. They gazed into each other's eyes and both felt a warm feeling in their hearts.

"Guys?" Jai said over coms.

They snapped out of their moment and fixed themselves. "Right, uh, shall we?" Will asked her.

"Yes," she said with a small smile showing on her face.

They went downstairs and got a cab to take them to the restaurant.

"Where to?" The taxi driver asked as they got in.

"Chef Mavro," Will replied.

"Ooh! Date night?"

"What?!" Frankie nervously laughed and shook her head as her face turned red for the second time that day.

"Yep," Will replied.

Frankie quickly turned her head to look at Will. She looked at him with a look which said 'What are you doing?'

He smiled and shrugged.

She couldn't help but laugh at him. "You enjoy the breakfast I sent up to the room?"

"Yeah, I did."

"You didn't eat your bacon, though."

"I know. I didn't because I knew you'd eat it."

"What?"

"Every time we ate breakfast together this week at the buffet, you'd always steal the bacon from my plate once you didn't have anymore on your plate."

"Oh. You noticed that?"

"Of course I did," he said while chuckling.

There was a long pause.

Frankie suddenly felt the warm feeling in her heart which she only felt when she was with Will.

He slid himself closer to her so he was sitting next to her, closing the gap the middle seat separating them had created. His thigh pressed up against hers and she shivered at the feeling of it.

She leaned in closer to him, keeping her eyes on him the entire time. He leaned in closer to her and clenched his jaw.

It didn't go unnoticed by Frankie. "Why are you clenching your jaw?"

"What do you mean?"

"What are you scared of, Will?"

"What are _you_ scared of, Frankie?" He asked her as he slid his hand behind her neck.

She looked down to his lips, then bit hers.

He leaned in closer to her and she ran her hands through his hair as they both closed their eyes and braced themselves for what was bound to happen.

"We're here," the cab driver said.

They stopped themselves and opened their eyes to both see emeralds gazing into theirs. They stayed in the position they were in for a few seconds before Frankie looked away from Will. "Let's go," she said as she got out of the taxi.

Will closed his eyes and sighed _._ He paid the driver and left the taxi with his head down and disappointment visible on his face.


	3. Goodnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frankie's left confused about her feelings after what's happened with her and Will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi so like i have so many of the chapters for this fic already written i honestly don't understand how i was able to write so much, but i'll try to update this fic frequently :) please leave your thoughts and what you'd like to see in the future in the comments and enjoy this chapter!

"Hello, Daniel," Frankie said as she entered the restaurant.

"Morgan. You look amazing in that dress."

"Thank you. Who's your friend?" Frankie said while motioning her head towards a tall, buff man who was guarding the door.

Will knew she was warning him that they'd need to take care of him later.

"He's just my security."

"Why do you need security?"

"My dad insists we always have it anywhere we go."

"Aw, was kinda hoping we'd be alone tonight."

"Don't worry. He won't be an issue," Daniel replied with an arched brow.

He walked her over to a table in the back of the restaurant and pulled out her chair for her.

"Such a gentleman," she teased.

He shrugged at her with a cocky smile then sat down across from her.

Eventually, they got their drinks, ordered their meals, and Daniel was constantly complimenting her.

Frankie would acknowledge them with a smile and by fake blushing, but at the same time, she was distracted. She couldn't stop thinking about what happened to her in the taxi with Will earlier. This wasn't like her. She doesn't mix the personal with the professional, but his words kept replaying in her head. _'_

_What are you scared of Frankie?'_

She kept trying to answer the question in her head, but could only come back to one answer. _I'm scared I'll lose him._

"Here is the keahole lobster," the waiter said as he placed the dish in front of Daniel, "and the foie gras for you, miss," he said while placing Frankie's meal in front of her.

She snapped out of her thinking. "Thank you," she said before the waiter walked away. She eyed Daniel's dish and thought to herself how she'd put the sedative disguised as lipstick, thanks to Jai, in Daniel's food.

"This looks amazing," he said as he picked up his fork.

"It sure does." Frankie swept her elbow across the table and purposefully knocked her fork off the table. "Oops!" She said innocently. She went to pick it up but knew Daniel would go to do it for her.

"Wait. Allow me." He got out of his seat and picked up the fork her.

As he had his head down, Frankie quickly put the sedative in his meal and acted as nothing happened.

He got down on one knee and picked up her fork, then handed it to her. "I believe this is yours," he said while looking up at her.

"Thank you," she said while fake blushing.

He gave the fork to her then kissed the back of her hand as she reached for it. He began to leave a trail of kisses along her arm then moved his way up her neck.

"Daniel, we're in a nice restaurant."

"No one's here," he replied

"Yeah, but the food's going to get cold."

He huffed. "Don't think we won't be returning to this issue back at the hotel," he said to her with his cocky smile.

She shrugged with a small smile. 

He picked up his fork again and began to eat his food.

Frankie ate hers and watched as he devoured the thing in five bites. A few seconds after he finished, Frankie watched him pass out. She made sure Daniel's security wasn't watching and whispered into coms, "Okay, he's out." She started giggling. 

"I'm coming in. Why are you giggling?" Will asked.

"You'll see."

Will walked into the restaurant and Daniel's security stopped him from entering, but Will quickly punched him in the jaw, throwing the big guy backward from its force, and choked him out. He fell down to the floor and Will walked over to Frankie in the back of the restaurant. "Oh my god. That's amazing." Will started laughing at what he was witnessing. Daniel had completely face-planted into his food and it looked funnier than it should have.

"I know right?" Frankie said as she then started to laugh with Will.

They carried him out to the back where Susan was waiting.

"Oh my god, what's on his face?" Susan asked as they put him in the back.

"He completely face-planted into his food and it got all over him," Will said as he was still chuckling.

"You should've seen when it happened, oh my god, that was so funny," Frankie started laughing even harder as she replayed it in her head. She snorted and stopped laughing. Her face turned bright red from embarrassment and she went silent.

"Haha! I didn't know you snort when you laugh!" Will said as he laughed at her.

"I only do that when I find something really funny," she said defensively.

"It's cute," he commented as his laughter died down and left only a smile on his face.

The redness in her face turned from being embarrassed to blushing and she felt that warm feeling in her heart again. She smiled at him and he smiled at her, making her feel as if nothing was surrounding them and it was just the two of them. 

"Guys," Susan said, snapping them out of their moment.

"Uh, right. Let's go," Will said.

They quickly got into the van and Susan drove off.

* * *

"Cheers to another successful mission!" Susan said as the team all raised their glasses to cheer in a booth in the hotel bar.

"Now who wants to get super drunk?" Frankie asked the team.

"Oh yeah!" Standish said in agreement.

"Oh boy," Will said as he watched Standish chug his beer.

They all kept drinking, Frankie especially, and after a few beers, Ray said to the team, "Ooh! By the way, I got us four extra days here so we can have an actual vacation!"

"Yay!" Frankie replied like a little kid. "I'm going to get us more shots!" She walked over to the bar and drunkenly said, "Bartender! Momma needs six more shots of tequila!"

"Oh my god this is hilarious," Standish said.

"I know! She's never been this drunk before!" Jai said as he laughed at Frankie who was now playing with her hair.

She walked back over to their table with a tray of shots and grinned. "I got the shots, party people!"

"That's _my_ line!" Ray said, offended.

She quickly drank her shot and tugged on Susan's arm. "Let's go on the dancefloor!"

Susan chuckled and followed Frankie onto the dancefloor.

A man then approached Frankie. "Hello, beautiful."

She gave him an up-down and then scoffed. "In your dreams, buddy."

"Don't tell me you don't want some of this," he said while pointing at himself.

"I don't."

"You do."

"No, I don't."

"C'mon. Let's go back up to my room and I can prove to you that you want this" he said as he moved closer to her.

"Get lost!" She said as she swatted him away and hit his shoulder.

"Hey, don't act like that. Let's go!" He put his hands on her waist.

"No, back off!"

"She said no."

Frankie turned around to see Will standing behind her.

"Who are you? Her boyfriend or something?" The guy asked.

Frankie's face turned red.

Will pushed him. "Just lay off, man. She doesn't want to go with you."

The guy swung his fist at him, but Will dodged it and knocked him out with an uppercut to the chin.

"My night in shining armor!" Frankie said in her kid voice again.

"You've had way too much to drink. Let's get you back up to the room before you cause any more trouble," Will said to her.

"But I want to stay!"

"You're too drunk to be out."

"I am not leaving this spot," she said while crossing her arms.

Will then picked her up and flung her over his shoulder.

"Wow! You're strong!" She said to him.

Susan followed Will off the dancefloor and sat back down in the booth.

"We'll see you guys tomorrow," Will said as he carried Frankie out of the bar.

They all watched Will carry Frankie over his shoulder and to the elevators, before turning back to each other and all freaking out.

"Woah! Did you see how protective he was of Frankie?" Standish said once Will was gone.

"Ooh! You guys should've been on the dancefloor with us! The guy asked if Will was her boyfriend and I saw the look on Frankie's face when he said it and oh my god she may have been super drunk, but she totally wanted him to say yes," Susan added.

"This is better than reality TV!" Ray said.

"And! He called her cute when she snorted when we got Daniel at the restaurant!"

"Oooh!" Jai said.

"Hey? How come you never carry me?" Susan asked Ray.

"Why should I?"

"I dunno," she said with a mischievous grin on her face.

"We're going." Ray took her hand and pulled her out of the booth, then carried her out of the bar.

"Ew," Standish and Jai both said once they left.

* * *

"Put me down, Will!" Frankie said while giggling.

"No, I'm too scared you're going to run away if I put you down."

"Hehe! You're right I would run away!"

Will smirked and rolled his eyes at how dumb she sounded. _She'd be so embarrassed if she found out how she was acting._

The elevator reached their floor and they got off it, with Frankie still flung over Will's shoulder.

He scanned their keycard and opened their door, then put her down once they went in their room and he was sure the door was closed.

"Aw, you're so nice for bringing me up hereeeee! Boop!" She started giggling and tapped Will's nose, while almost falling over from leaning closer to him.

"Wow, you are... _really_ drunk." He laughed at her as he caught her from falling and she kept giggling until they suddenly both stopped.

Their laughs turned to smiles and they began to gaze into each other's eyes.

"Will?" She said softly.

"Yeah, Frankie?"

"I have to tell you something," she said while looking up at him.

"What is it?" He clenched his jaw and stuck out his chin, bracing himself for what he hoped she'd say.

"I-" She then turned away and threw up all over Will's shoes. "Oopsies," she said as she looked back up to him.

"Oh god. Let's go to the bathroom." He brought her to the bathroom and put her in front of the toilet where she continued to throw up and he held her hair back for her.

Once she threw up everything in her, she let out a big groan. "Ugh."

"Let's get you to bed."

As Will began to clean her up, he noticed she'd gotten puke all over her dress.

"Great," he said to himself.

He couldn't let her sleep in that, so he had no other choice but to undress her. He went over to his suitcase to get his FBI shirt for her to wear, but couldn't find it. He then looked over to her bag and saw Frankie had tucked it away into her suitcase. He chuckled.

After putting his shirt on her, he lifted her up and she put her arms around his neck as she closed her eyes.

He put her down on the bed and placed the covers over her. She swiftly fell asleep and Will couldn't help but admire how she looked. 

_She sleeps like a baby._

He smiled and planted a kiss on her head. "Goodnight," he whispered into her hair.

He changed his clothes and washed up before climbing into bed and falling asleep next to Frankie.


	4. Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frankie wakes up the morning after her little incident and has a talk with Susan about the question which she can't seem to escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what uppp?! trying to get as many of these chapters out as possible because i'm super excited for you guys to see where it's going! please please please let me know your thoughts in the comments and i hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Frankie woke up the next morning to a pounding headache and something heavy around her waist from behind; someone's arm.

_Great who did I sleep with, while I was drunk, this time?_

She adjusted herself then realized she wasn't naked, but she was wearing a T-shirt. She pulled it down and knew the feeling of its fabric anywhere: Will's FBI shirt. She started panicking.

_Shit! Did Will and I seriously sleep together for the first time while we were drunk?_

She opened her eyes and looked down to see she had no pants on, but she still had her panties on.

_Wait, what?_

She turned to look at Will who was fully clothed and sleeping peacefully. She stopped panicking. _We didn't sleep together._

Will adjusted himself and groaned.

"So old," Frankie said to herself.

"What'd you say about me?" He quickly said back. He slowly opened his eyes to see Frankie looking at him with her head laying on the pillow next to his.

"You're so old," she repeated.

"Yeah, you never let me forget that," he said with a small chuckle.

She sighed. "What exactly um...happened last night?"

"You got _super_ drunk."

_That explains my headache._ "How drunk?" 

"So drunk that you 'booped' my nose, then barfed all over my shoes," he said as he started to laugh.

"Oh god," she said with embarrassment visible in her voice.

"Don't worry it's not a big deal, I was going to buy new shoes anyway," he assured her.

She smirked. "Uh, why am I wearing your shirt?"

"You barfed all over your dress."

"You undressed me?" She said, surprised.

"I wasn't going to let you sleep in clothes covered in vomit," he stated. "Sorry that I couldn't find you any pants. I did mean to pack my FBI sweatpants, but they seem to have gone missing..." He arched a brow at her.

She smirked. "Thanks. This shirt's big enough that it's basically a dress on me anyways."

He snickered.

She sighed again.

"So...do you remember anything from last night?" Will asked.

"I think I blacked out when we got to the room."

"Oh. So...do you remember what happened before that?"

"Um, I don't think-" The events from the previous night then all flashed across Frankie's mind and came back to her. "Wait. Shit." She closed her eyes and put her hand on her forehead.

"So you _do_ remember?"

"Yes, ugh, oh god."

"Do you remember...the bar?"

The image of Will knocking out a guy in the bar flashed through her mind. "Yes."

"How I got you up to the room?"

_'Wow! You're strong!'_ "Yes," she said with embarrassment visible in her voice.

"And what you said before you...puked all over your dress and my shoes?"

_'I have to tell you something' Fuck._ "Yes," she said more quietly this time. She felt a wave of panic and swallowed hard. She just hoped something would happen that would get her out of this situation.

"Do you remember what you were going to tell me?"

She swallowed and gave him a look which told Will she definitely remembered.

"What'd you need to tell me?" He asked.

"I-"

Will's phone started to ring, interrupting her. He closed his eyes and huffed. He checked his phone to see it was Standish. He answered the call.

"Yo! Will!" Standish screamed through the phone. 

Will groaned and quickly move the phone away from his ear at how loud Standish was. "Agh, Standish, what do you want?" He asked in an irritated tone.

"Wow, someone's not a morning person."

Will rolled his eyes.

"Is Frankie up yet?"

"Yes, she's sitting next to me, why?"

"Ooh, she's next to you? Was I interrupting something?"

_Yes, you were._ "No, you weren't," he replied curtly.

"Put me on speaker!" He insisted.

Will sat up, and so did Frankie, as he put Standish on speaker.

"Frankie! You and Will need to get down to the lobby!"

"Why?" She asked.

"We all want to go to the beach! Jai, Ray, and I are already down here, Susan's still in her room, but will be down soon, and we're just waiting for you two!"

"Susan's still in her room?" She asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"I don't know. Just wondering," She replied.

"Hurry up! I saw there were surfing lessons down at the beach and I gotta get my 'surfer pose' down!" Standish said.

“Please, to be a surfer you have to be cool first,” Will and Frankie heard Jai say in the background to a then offended Standish.

"Sounds good, I guess. We'll be down there soon," Will said as he hung up the phone. "So, what were you going to-"

"I'm gonna go to Susan's room. I think she still has my coverup and I want to get it back," Frankie quickly said.

"Okay," He replied with hurt in his voice.

Frankie quickly put on the sweatpants she'd stolen from Will the month before during movie night, grabbed her things for the beach and left to go to Susan's room.

* * *

"Susan!" Frankie shouted as she knocked on Susan's door aggressively. "Susan!" She persisted.

"Oh my god, would you stop that! You're going to break the door!" Susan said as she opened the door.

Frankie went into her room and started pacing around. "Susan. How bad was I last night?"

Susan started laughing. "Girl! You should've seen yourself! Some jerk wouldn't back off and you told him 'in your dreams.' Also: Will punched him for you and then he had to carry you out of the bar!"

"Don't remind me. You know you could've just said bad."

"Wait, you remember what happened?!" Susan asked while still laughing.

"Yes, but I feel like I'm forgetting something."

"Ooh! Before Will punched that guy, he asked Will if he was your boyfriend! Do you remember that?"

_'What are you? Her boyfriend or something?'_ "Fuck."

Susan squealed. "So if you remember what happened last night, what happened after Will got you up to your room?"

"Oh god. I don't know how I'm getting out of this."

"What happened!?" She asked with excitement and curiosity in her voice.

"After we got up to the room, I told him I had to tell him something."

"What did you tell him?!"

"I didn't tell him anything, thank god; I barfed all over my dress and his shoes before I could embarrass myself."

Susan cringed. "Oh no. That's not good. What happened after you barfed?"

"I don't remember this part, but he told me that he had to undress me once I was done puking out everything in my system."

"He undressed you!? Ooh, this is good." Susan leaned in closer to Frankie and listened intently. She noticed Frankie's outfit and saw it was completely Will's. "Nice outfit," she commented.

Frankie rolled her eyes. "I woke up this morning in bed with him again and he asked me what I was going to tell him and now I don't know how to get out of it!"

"What were you going to tell him!?"

"Well...in the taxi ride to the restaurant, Will and I started talking and then we just started to look at each other and, you know that thing he does when he's scared?"

"You mean when he clenches his jaw and sticks out his chin?"

"Bingo. Okay, well he did that and I noticed."

"This is so good."

Frankie rolled her eyes again. "So I asked him, 'What are you scared of Will?' Then he put his hand behind my neck and asked _me_ the question, but he whispered it into my ear and it gave me butterflies. It was so weird, I've never gotten butterflies before."

"And then, did you guys kiss!?"

"The taxi driver interrupted us while we both had our eyes closed and my mouth was literally _an inch_ from his."

"Who the hell is that taxi driver? I'm gonna kill him!"

"Yeah, I wanted to too," she scoffed in agreement.

"So, wait. I'm still a little confused. How does that relate to what you were going to tell him?"

"I was going to tell him what I was scared of," she replied as if it was obvious.

"Well...what _are_ you scared of?" Susan asked.

"I..."

Susan waited for her answer.

"I.."

"You...?"

"I..."

"Frankie, just say it!"

"I can't lose him!" She finally blurted out. She let out a big sigh and flopped onto Susan's bed.

Susan tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

Frankie gave her a look which showed she was struggling to say what was on her mind. She did her best to explain what she meant, but only a little part of it. "I'm scared that I'll lose him because...it's Will. I've never felt about anyone the way that I feel with Will; I've never...lov- liked anyone as much as I like him." She went quiet.

"Oh." Susan lay down next to Frankie and grabbed her hand and held it as they both stared at the ceiling. "Frankie, I get it. You're scared that if you start something with Will, you might push him away, but I can assure you that won't happen."

"How can you be sure I won't push him away with my fear of intimacy?" She asked as she turned to look at Susan.

"Because it's Will. You should've seen how protective he was over you at the bar."

Frankie raised an eyebrow and scrunched her nose in confusion.

"Okay, don't get freaked out when I say this, but...you guys belong together," she said while looking at Frankie.

Frankie did her best to not show her freaking out on the outside, but on the inside, she definitely was. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Frankie, you're not going to get over this fear until you face it," Susan told her.

Frankie closed her eyes and sighed, showing she understood what Susan was telling her.

"Also, don't forget about fate. Fate brought you two together on that balcony in Prague and I wouldn't be surprised to see it bring you two together again."

"Oh, please," Frankie said while rolling her eyes.

Susan smiled at her and sprang up off the bed. "Okay. We're supposed to be going to the beach, and I wanna get tan, so go change into your bathing suit!"

Frankie smirked and got off the bed. "Oh my god, I forgot!" Frankie went over to her bag and smiled when she looked inside it. "Wait until you see the bathing suit Daniel bought me," she said with a mischievous grin.

Susan gasped when Frankie pulled out her bathing suit from her bag. "Damn, girl! Five bucks says Will's gonna be drooling over you in that!"


	5. Want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team spends some time at the beach and Will and Frankie talk about things between them in an unexpected circumstance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter's the start of what i'm super excited for you guys to see in the next few chapters! i love hearing your thoughts on my chapters so leave some of them in the comments and enjoy!

In the lobby, Will, Standish, Jai, and Ray all impatiently waited for Susan and Frankie to get down there.

“My god, how long does it take to change into a bathing suit? Women are so slow.” Standish said.

“Hey, Standish!” Frankie said from behind while slapping Standish so hard on the back causing him to fall forward. “What were you saying about women?”

“That I think they’re very amazing and I respect them.” He nervously replied.

“That’s what I thought,” Susan said to him.

“C’ mon, let’s go to the beach,” Will said. He looked over to Frankie and she looked up at the same time, making both of them immediately look in the opposite direction.

 _He better not ask me in front of everyone,_ Frankie thought to herself.

At the beach, the team all adjusted themselves in a spot then put an umbrella up and their towels on the sand.

"Frankie come next to me! Let's get our tan on!" Susan said as she pointed to two towels next to each other.

“It's so hot out, I don't think I can just lay in the sun. I think I’m gonna go for a swim,” Frankie said, “anyone coming?”

Will couldn't get what happened that morning out of his head and quickly blurted, "I'll go!"

Susan let out a small chuckle at his eagerness.

“Um, I mean, yeah I’ll go.” He said less excitedly.

Will took off his t-shirt and Frankie took off her coverup, revealing a tight black bikini with the top being held up at her neck by two strings and a knot, and bottoms which barely covered her ass.

Will couldn’t help but stare at her like he did when she was only wrapped in a towel back in the hotel room; he'd never seen her in a bikini before.

Susan quickly noticed Will and whispered to Frankie while quietly giggling, “I win!”

"We both knew he was going to stare, I don't know why I agreed to this bet," Frankie whispered back.

"Show me the money!"

"I'll give it to you later geez."

"Okay well in the meantime, if I were you, I'd have some fun with this," Susan said while smirking.

"Wow, great minds think alike." Frankie gave Susan a small smile before she made sure Will was looking and bent down in front of him to grab the suntan lotion from her bag.

Susan started quietly giggling even more.

Frankie smirked at Susan before turning to Will. “Hey, Will?”

“Huh, what? I mean uh,” he said before he cleared his throat, “what’s up?”

“Can you put some sunscreen on my back for me?”

“Yep!” he said eagerly while nodding his head more vigorously than he should've been nodding it.

Susan put her face in Ray’s shoulder to prevent herself from bursting out into laughter.

“I mean, uh, sure,” Will said in a calmer tone.

Hiding her smirk, Frankie handed him the suntan lotion bottle and he rubbed sunscreen on her back. 

“Oh god, there is _so_ much sexual tension here,” Standish whispered to Jai.

Jai just smirked and watched Frankie tease Will.

“Alright thanks,” Frankie said to Will, “now let’s go into the ocean.”

Will nodded his head and followed Frankie who basically had him wrapped around her finger.

Frankie turned with the biggest grin on her face to wink at Susan who was already dying of laughter at the situation.

“Oh god, he’s like a puppy who won’t stop following his owner! I don’t think I’ve ever seen him be like this with anyone,” Ray said.

“I know right? This is hilarious.” Susan said in response to Ray.

After a while, everyone went to go do their own thing without Frankie or Will noticing because they’d been in the ocean together teasing each other. Frankie was mostly doing all the teasing.

Will had forgotten why he'd gotten in the water with her so eagerly in the first place and he didn't even think about asking her about this morning again.

Frankie went underwater and came back up soaking wet. She slicked back her hair and then got out of the water while she teased Will with a walk which had her swaying her hips and sticking her butt out.

 _C’ mon Whiskey pull yourself together. Don’t let her win the fight._ Will quickly got out of the water.

“Wanna do something else?” Frankie asked teasingly while drying herself off.

Will fought his urge for some more time with Frankie and decided to leave her hanging like she left him hanging earlier. “I’m actually gonna go back to the room first, meet you there in a bit,” he told her.

“Oh. Okay.” She said disappointedly.

* * *

“Will?” Frankie said as she opened the door to her room.

No response.

She put down her things and went to go to the bathroom to take a shower when she realized Will was already taking one from the sound of the water already running.

 _Oh, god I gotta get in the shower,_ she thought after smelling herself. “Will,” she said while standing up against the bathroom door, “can you hurry? I smell like salt!”

“I’ll be out of the shower soon, hold your horses.”

“Ugh.”

Within the next minute, Frankie heard the shower turn off and she swiftly entered the bathroom afterward while wrapped only in her towel once again, expecting to find Will with a towel wrapped around his waist.

But she didn’t see that.

“Frankie what the hell!?”

She quickly turned her head away from Will, who was still standing in the shower with the water streaming down on him again. “I heard the shower turn off! I thought you were done!”

“No, something weird was happening with the shower and there was only cold water so I turned it off to see if the hot water would come back if I turned it on again!”

“Shit,” she whispered to herself. “Oh god, ugh, just hurry up and shower!” Without thinking he’d notice, Frankie quickly looked over to Will and took a peek at him before she turned to leave the bathroom. _Impressive._

“I saw that Frankie! Ha!”

“What? I didn’t do anything!” She said as her face turned bright red.

“Yeah, you did! I saw you look down at me!”

“No, what are you talking about? I did not!”

“You totally did. I think I even saw a small smirk on your face. Admit it, you were checking me out!”

“Stop it, no I wasn’t.”

“ _Yes_ , you were.”

“ _No_ , I wasn’t.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“WOULD YOU STOP IT, WILL,” she yelled. Frankie gave him a death stare. “Why won’t you just let it go? You never let anything go! You’re so annoying!“

“Are you kidding? You were the one being annoying today! You ran away in the middle of our conversation this morning after Standish interrupted us! And! You kept teasing me on purpose while you and I were down at the beach!”

“So it worked! Ha!”

“Frankie! That's not the part I'm focusing on right now. Why wouldn't you tell me what you were going to say to me last night!?"

“I don't want to talk about it.”

“Why!? What are you scared of, Frankie!?”

There they were again. The words which made her get butterflies in her stomach.

"Frankie. Answer me! Ugh! I don't get why you always are running from me. You have to face what's bound happen sometime!"

"What's bound to happen sometime?!" She yelled back.

"You know what I'm talking about, Frankie!"

“No, I don’t!”

“Yes, you do!”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“UGH STOP DOING THAT! You’re so infuriating! I want to just-“

“What Frankie? You want to what? Tell me!”

 _'You're not going to get over this fear until you face it.'_ “I’ll do better than tell you, I’ll show you!” Keeping her promise, Frankie dropped her towel and stormed into the shower, then crashed her lips onto Will’s.


	6. She's So Gone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Frankie's reaction to their recent interaction, Will's forced to enlist the help of Susan in finding her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know this chapter's super short and a lot didn't really happen but more stuff will be starting to happen in the next chapter i promise :)

Frankie grabbed the back of Will’s neck and pulled him in closer to her under the showerhead. She broke the kiss and they stood in silence, the only sound being the water running. 

They both were shocked at her sudden move, and Frankie’s response was to immediately get out of the shower and away from Will. _Nevermind, I can't face this fear right now._

But before she could leave, Will took her arm and in one swift motion pulled her back to him and pressed his lips against _hers_ this time.

At first, she kissed him back. It was exactly how she remembered it from Prague, except this time, there was more passion. But she quickly broke the kiss and looked at Will who was confused. "I'm going to go." She hastily got out of the shower then took her towel from off the ground and wrapped herself back in it. She left the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

"What?" Will said to himself. 

* * *

Frankie was gone for the rest of the day. No one saw her; not even Susan.

She didn't show up for their dinner reservations with the team and it was worrying Will. He texted her earlier and asked where she was and if she'd be at dinner, but never got a response.

"Will, where's Frankie?" Jai asked when he got to the restaurant in the hotel they had reservations for.

"She wasn't feeling well and decided to stay back up in the room," he answered. It was a complete lie.

"Aw. Well, we'll have to go check up on her after dinner then," Standish said.

"No, don't," he quickly added.

"Why?" Susan asked.

"I wasn't even supposed to tell you guys she was sick, she wanted me to make up some lie and also said that if anyone came up to see her she'd punch them in the gut and me," Will replied.

"Yikes," Ray said.

They all went into the restaurant and had dinner together, but the entire time, Will couldn't stop thinking about Frankie. _Why would she kiss me back then leave? _Where did she go?__ He discreetly asked Susan if she knew something but did it by texting her.

"Don't react. Do you know where Frankie is?" He texted.

Susan was too focused on her food to notice her phone ding.

Will cleared his throat loudly and it caught her attention.

She looked over to where Will's eyes were motioning towards and saw his text on her phone screen.

"No, where is she!?" She texted back.

"I don't know something happened earlier today and it freaked her out. She's been missing all day," he replied.

"After dinner, go back to your room and see if she's there. If she's not, I'll go look for her with you," Susan texted, then looked at Will for his response.

He nodded and sighed. 

* * *

Their dinner went on for what felt like forever to Will. The entire time he couldn't stop wondering about Frankie. Eventually, it did end. Once the bill was paid, Will shot up from his seat and quickly left, saying he was going to check up on Frankie.

He headed to the elevators and got on with another woman in her thirties.

"Hello," she said to him after the doors closed.

"Hi," he politely replied.

"You're cute," she commented.

"Thanks."

"Wow, and you're in great shape." She traced her fingers along his biceps and batted her eyelashes.

"Thanks," he said as he pulled his arm away from her.

She then made a confused face which was also meant to be teasing and asked, "You single?"

He swallowed and paused before saying, "No."

"Aw, bummer," she said to him. The elevator reached her floor and she turned to wink at Will before getting off.

The doors closed and Will said to himself, "Geez, she's desperate."

The elevator reached his floor and Will went down the hall to his and Frankie's room.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes before he put his keycard in. _Please be here, Frankie._ He opened the door and went into the room. _Dammit._

She wasn't there.

Will pulled out his phone to text Susan. "She isn't here."

She quickly replied to him. "Meet me in the lobby."

Will immediately went back to the elevators, down to the lobby, and met up with Susan.

"Okay, she could be literally anywhere. This area of the island has a ton of places to go to," Susan said to Will.

"Yeah, I know, that's why I'm worried she went somewhere else far."

"Don't worry. We'll find her."

Will nodded and the two of them started looking everywhere in the Waikiki area.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you all enjoyed! i always love hearing your thoughts so please leave some comments! ;)


	7. Because of You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will and Susan continue on their search throughout Waikiki and Susan causes for Will to come to a realization.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys! how are you enjoying the story so far? hope you enjoy this new chapter!

"Do you think she'd be in another hotel?" Will asked.

"I don't know," Susan replied. "She couldn't have gone outside of the Waikiki area, she'd get lost and I know she's not dumb enough to do that."

"Well...you never know. She has done some questionable things in the past."

"Hey!" Susan slapped his arm.

"Ow!"

"Stop it! Frankie wouldn't leave, alright?" She snapped.

He went quiet and rubbed his arm.

"Look, the Hilton Hawaiian Village is right there. Ray and I stayed there the last time we were here, so maybe you're right and she went there. Let's go check."

"Where would she even be there?"

"The bar..." Susan trailed off.

"Oh god."

"Let's just check okay?"

They walked into the hotel and over to the bar at the Tapa Tower, which happened to also have a stage where live music was playing.

Will listened to the music playing through the speakers. "Oh my god." A Hawaiian version of Despacito was blasting.

"What? Do you see her anywhere?" Susan asked.

"What? Oh, uh, no she's not here," he replied.

"Okay, then let's go look somewhere else."

He nodded then turned to look at the stage before they left and sighed. 

They walked around the hotel some more then eventually left and headed down to where there were more shops.

"All the shops are going to be closing soon, so she won't have much choice but to go back to the hotel after nothing's open anymore," Susan said.

"Yeah." He stopped in front of Tiffany & Co. and looked at the display in the window. In it was a beautiful pendant which had 18k white gold with round yellow sapphires in the shape of a small smile. He admired its simplicity.

Susan noticed he'd stopped then walked back to him and stood by his side at the window. She looked at the pendant and smiled. "You planning on buying that for Frankie?"

"What? No! Why you think she'd like it?"

Susan smirked. "For some reason, yes. I think it really represents what you've done to her," she replied.

"Huh?" He frowned.

"When we first met her, I didn't see her smile that often, but now, I've noticed she smiles a lot. Especially when she's with you. If you got her that it's like she's always smiling when she's wearing it because of you." She grinned when she saw his face turn red. "Am I wrong?" she questioned.

He showed a small smile at her comment and blushed without being able to hide it.

Susan laughed. "Come on. Let's go find Frankie so you can give that to her." She put an arm around him and pulled him away from the window.

They looked around some more and after a while, had no luck.

"Ray's going to get suspicious about why I'm out so late," she told Will when she saw it was already midnight on her phone.

"Okay," he responded.

"Let's head back."

He nodded and they started to walk back to their hotel.

As they turned onto the street which the hotel was on, Susan turned to Will. "Hey, you know, you were pretty protective over Frankie in that bar last night."

"So?" He asked.

"Why?"

"What do you mean? That guy was being a jackass and she was too drunk to handle him herself," he replied while avoiding eye contact.

"Will. We _both_ know Frankie could kick _anyone's_ ass, drunk or not. Why were you protecting her so much?"

"I would've done the same for you," he said, refusing to answer the question.

"No, you know Ray's got that handled. Also, I can kick some ass like Frankie! How dare you think I can't handle my own situations!" She said as she lightly shoved him.

Will sighed. "Sorry."

"Will. Why were you _really_ being protective of Frankie in that bar?"

He refused to answer and stayed quiet.

"Frankie told me about the taxi."

"She did?" he quickly asked.

"Yeah."

"What exactly did she tell you?"

She looked at him and sighed. "Will, didn't you ever stop to think about what _you_ are scared of?"

He looked at Susan's expression and caved. "Fine." He took a big breath. "Susan, I know we tell each other everything, and don't get me wrong I love it, but I just don't get it. With Frankie, it's different. It's hard for me to tell you about what I'm feeling- I should actually say what she makes me feel."

"What's that?"

"She makes me feel something I've never felt before. Not with Gigi, not with Emma. I mean, she's so complex, yet I love that about her. She's the person I look to when I want to watch a movie and drink wine. She's the person I talk to about my feelings, even though she claims she doesn't do all those emotions, and she talks to me about hers when she needs to. She's the person who I just get."

"Wait, Will. Did you just say you love Frankie?" Susan asked him.

"Did I?" he asked with realization showing in his voice.

"Well, what do you want to happen between you and Frankie?!"

"Susan, I want to get ice cream with her. I don't care if she tells me we can't because of our jobs, I just want to be with her. I never want to let go of her."

Susan smiled. "Sounds like love to me!"

"Oh my god. I love Frankie," he said in a surprised tone.

"Oh, please! Don't act surprised, you definitely have known this for a while!" Susan said.

He chuckled at her comment.

Susan squealed and wrapped an arm around Will and he wrapped one around Susan.

They smiled at each other.

Susan tightly hugged him from the side and said, "If you don't tell her the minute you see her, I _will_ kick your ass."

He laughed. "Okay, okay."

Once they got back, Susan said to Will in the elevator, "We'll look for her in the morning. Don't worry, you'll get your chance to tell her."

He nodded and gave her a small smile. 

* * *

Back in his room, Will got ready to go to sleep. He changed, washed up, then climbed into bed. He hated lying there without Frankie by his side; it made the bed cold. He shut his eyes and tried to fall asleep, but couldn't get her off his mind. After a bunch of tossing and turning, he eventually gave up on sleep. _This isn't gonna work._ He went over to the couch and plopped down onto it, then grabbed the TV remote. He turned it on and immediately saw _You've Got Mail_ playing _._ _This is definitely not going to work._ He got up from the couch and shut off the TV. He had to go somewhere to think in peace; he was too distracted. _The pool._ It was late and nobody would be there; the perfect place to just sit and think in peace.

He grabbed his stuff and left his room. 

In the elevator, he thought of every scenario which could happen if he told her he loves her.

_What if when I tell her she laughs in my face? What if I say it to her and she doesn't feel the same? What if she runs away again? No, not this time._

He exited the elevator and walked through the lobby where he saw a very tired family checking in at the front desk.

They had two little girls, with the older one looking to be around six or seven years old while the younger one looked around three years old. There was also a little boy who looked like he was barely a year old. He was walking around as he tightly held a little blue blanket in his hands and had a pacifier in his mouth. He looked drunk, waddling around the lobby like that.

"Henry! Come here!" The oldest girl said to her brother, who listened.

He waddled over to her and went by her side.

"Don't be going so far from me! I don't want you to get lost!" She told him as she took his hand.

He nodded as he sucked on his pacifier.

Will admired how protective the little girl was of her brother.

The middle child, however, was focused on being able to sit on top of her mom's big luggage. She kept running and trying to hoist herself up onto the luggage but couldn't manage to do it because she was shorter than the luggage.

"Maggie, honey, you're going to hurt yourself," the dad warned her. "I don't want you getting any boo-boos on your pretty little face."

"Daddy, I almost have it!" She said with determination in her voice. She went back again and ran to the luggage in another attempt to get on top of it. Before she could attempt to hoist herself up again, the dad lifted her and placed her on top of the luggage. She huffed. "I could've done it myself, daddy," she said as she crossed her arms and swung her legs which didn't meet the ground.

"Really? Could you have done this?" He started to push the luggage and she squealed with happiness as she rode around on it. "Come on Sammie!" He said to her sister who followed their dad and began running behind him while holding her brother's hand as she ran and their giggles filled the lobby.

The mom turned from talking with the lady at the front desk and smiled at the sight of her husband and her kids.

Will overheard the lady at the front desk say to the mom, "Your family's beautiful."

"Thanks. I got pretty lucky," she replied.

The sight of them being so happy made Will smile, but at the same time, envious. He wished he could have a family like that. He wished he could have a family like that with Frankie.

After witnessing the happy moment between the family, Will continued through the lobby and outside to the pool.

Will walked down the few stairs which led to the pool area with his head down and when he looked up, he found someone by the side with their feet in the water. He quietly gasped and knew who it was the minute he laid his eyes on them.

It was Frankie. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you guys enjoyed! my fam and i go to hawaii pretty often so it was fun for me to be able to incorporate some places in hawaii which i go to when we're there into this chapter! pls leave some of your thoughts in the comments :)


	8. Look At Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will attempts to get the answer from Frankie which he's been waiting for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys i am SO SORRY that this took me a while to update but i've been super busy lately with a bunch of work for school and also with tennis but i'll try my best to keep updating this fic as soon as possible! enjoy!

Frankie turned at the sound of Will's footsteps and saw him. She quickly turned away and looked back at her reflection in the pool.

He walked up to her and sat by her side. "Mind if I join you?"

She didn't say anything but also didn't _do_ anything when he was already sitting next to her with only a foot of space separating them.

He took off his shoes and put his feet in the water too then started lightly kicking them, letting silence fill the air between them.

"Why are you here, Will?" She asked, breaking the silence.

"I needed someplace quiet to think. Why are _you_ here, Frankie?"

"Same reason."

"What are you thinking about?" He quickly questioned.

She stayed quiet.

He sighed. "Where have you been all day?"

She wouldn't answer him again.

"Okay, fine." He paused. "Why did you run away after we kissed earlier?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You started it-"

"-and you took advantage of me when I was in a vulnerable state," she interrupted.

"Are you kidding? If anything _I was the one in a vulnerable state!_ How were _you_ in one?"

"You kissed me after I did something I wasn't sure about."

"Why would you start something you weren't sure about?"

"I don't know!" She snapped, taking Will by surprise. "I don't know," she repeated as a whisper this time.

He scooted himself so his thigh was pressed up against hers again like in the taxi. "Frankie, do you know where I've been for the past few hours?"

She looked at him.

"I've been out with Susan looking all over Waikiki for you. We looked everywhere, and when I say that I mean literally."

Frankie stayed quiet.

"You know while we were walking on the street, Susan told me you told her what happened in the taxi."

Frankie inhaled sharply. "What?" She asked nervously.

"She asked me what I was scared of."

Frankie raised an eyebrow and a look of want crossed her face; she wanted for Will to tell her what he said so badly. And so he did.

"I told her how you make me feel something I've never felt before; not with Gigi, not with Emma. How you're so complex and are the person I look to when I want to watch a movie and drink wine. How you're the person I talk to about my feelings, even though you say you don't do all those emotions, and how you talk to me about yours when you need to. But, most importantly, you're the person who I just get."

Frankie felt goosebumps appear and looked back at the pool while trying to hide her small smile appearing on her face from his words.

"Admitting all of that to Susan just made me wonder again," he paused before he whispered into her ear, "what are you scared of, Frankie?"

There were the butterflies again. She shivered and kept her eyes on the pool then didn't answer him for a while.

He was patient with her. He knew this was it. She'd eventually answer him and all he had to do was wait.

"I- I can't...lose you," she finally whispered, just loud enough Will could barely hear it.

"What?" He asked.

"We've known that we've had a connection for so long now and if we finally get together, I'm scared of messing that up," she clarified.

"Why would you be scared of that happening?"

"Because I'm _me_. I'm Frankie-push-everyone-and-her-feelings-away-Trowbridge. I shouldn't be with someone who doesn't deserve to be treated the way I'll treat them in our relationship."

Will didn't notice she'd began to cry until he saw a tear fall into the pool and he felt his heart sink. He felt awful; he didn't want her to feel that way.

She sniffled and wouldn't look at him.

"Frankie," Will said as he wrapped an arm around her and she immediately rested her head against his shoulder, taking him by surprise.

Three months ago, she probably wouldn't have done that. She might've broken his arm by then, but this time she didn't feel the need to. “Will, what are you doing?”

"Frankie. Don't think like that. That won't happen."

"You can't promise that."

"I can. You are completely different now, but that's a good thing because it just makes me love you even more than I did before."

She inhaled sharply and looked up at him with glossy eyes. "What?"

"Frankie, I'm not going to hide my feelings for you because it needs to be said. Yes, I love you. So much. I've never loved anyone as much as I've loved you. You don't have to even say it back, I don't care, but you should know...you are _not_ Frankie-push-everyone-and-her-feelings-away-Trowbridge. Frankie Trowbridge, today, is the strongest woman I've ever met...and she even cares about people now.".

"She does not!" Frankie said, smiling as she wiped her tears.

"She totally does," he said while lightly nudging her.

"Stop it, Will!" Frankie pushed Will hard enough to make him fall off the edge.

He grabbed Frankie’s arm as he fell in, pulling her in with him.

They both went to the surface of the water after falling in and stood in the shallow end of the pool in silence, two feet apart.

Frankie looked at him before turning to get out of the pool.

"Not this time," he said as he grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him before she could reach the steps. He pulled her back fast enough so their faces were less than an inch apart when she faced him.

Frankie was breathing hard and her heart was beating fast. She’d wanted this for a long time.

Will wrapped his arms around her waist.

“We keep ending up like this,” Frankie said.

“So?” Will replied, smiling as he lightly swayed them in the water.

They focused on each other, both with a small smile.

Frankie looked down from Will’s eyes to his lips. “Will.”

“Hm?”

“Look at me.”

“I am.”

“Remember my face.”

“Why?”

She waited a few seconds before responding then looked back up into his big green eyes. “Because this is the face that wants for you to kiss me.”

He looked at her and smiled even bigger.

They leaned in towards each other. 

Their lips met and Frankie wrapped her arms around his neck.

He pulled her closer and she kissed him harder.

“You want this?” He asked, breaking the kiss.

“Absolutely,” she replied before pressing her lips against his again. She pulled back and looked into his eyes as she ran her hands through his wet hair. "I love you too, Will."

He looked at her in shock. _Oh my god, she said it._

She started laughing at his expression. "Your face is priceless right now."

He quickly kissed her and let the moment sink in. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her out of the pool while still kissing her.

Finally, a tender moment where no one interrupted them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pls lmk your thoughts in the comments and can't wait for you guys to read the rest of the fic!


	9. I'll Always Chase You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will and Frankie spend some time together and Ray insists the team all plays volleyball down at the beach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO SORRY THESE UPDATES ARE TAKING SO LONG. school actually is the worst like i have so much stress now and too much work ugh. i'll try to update these chapters more quickly, but in the meantime i hope you guys enjoy this new chapter!

Will tightly held onto Frankie’s hand as the two of them raced back to their room. They ran past the lobby, soaking wet, leaving a trail of water behind themselves, and arrived at the elevator.

Frankie quickly pressed the button to the 18th floor and the doors slowly closed.

Will swiftly pushed Frankie against the wall of the elevator and began to hungrily kiss her. She moaned when he grabbed her ass and squeezed it then began to kiss her underneath her chin. Her breaths became quicker and she bit her lip as his hands made their way under her shirt. Before he could kiss her any lower on her body, the elevator came to a stop. Will quickly stopped kissing her and tried not to look obvious as an old woman wearing a robe walked through the elevator doors.

It was pretty obvious to her what she'd just walked in on. She got off on the floor before theirs and left the elevator smirking.

The doors closed and Frankie started to laugh as her face turned red. “Oh my god, Will!”

“That was kind of fun; almost getting caught, you know?” He said while chuckling.

“Are you kidding? We weren't almost caught, she totally knew what we were doing!” She smacked his shoulder.

He smiled and shrugged as he rubbed the spot she'd hit.

The elevator reached their floor and they quickly went to their room at the end of the hall.

As Will got his keycard out, Frankie began nibbling on his ear as she had her arms wrapped around him from behind.

"Oh, so now you don't care if someone catches us?" He asked, teasingly.

She smiled at him as he looked back at her and they quickly entered their room.

Frankie took off her shoes while Will put his keys down on the table on the opposite side of the room. As she took off her second shoe and kicked it off, Will ran to her and lifted her up again.

She wrapped her legs around his waist while giggling and he kissed her passionately. She was taken by surprise when she was pushed against the door and Will began to grind up against her. She moaned as he moved his head down and began to suck on her neck underneath her chin. She gently ran her fingers through his hair and guided him back up to her lips.

Will put her down while still kissing her and she broke the kiss to pull his wet shirt over his head. He took off her shirt and kissed her chest, then carried her to the bed and put her onto her back. He began to take her pants off and she laughed at how difficult it was because they were clinging to her skin from being wet. He threw them on the floor and she sat up to grab his neck as he leaned down to give her another kiss. He unclasped her bra and she carelessly tossed it aside as she got up and pushed him back onto the bed, putting herself on top and straddling his thighs as she kissed him. She started to undo his belt quickly and took his pants off.

She stopped kissing him and leaned back.

“What?” He asked.

“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this," she replied.

He laughed wickedly and they fell onto the bed.

Will rolled them over so he was on top and pinned her down onto the bed. He began to leave a trail of kisses as he moved down her body. He hooked his thumbs on the side of her panties then pulled them down and tossed them aside.

"Kiss me, Will," she said to him.

He looked at her again with a naughty grin and obeyed as he started to kiss her inner thigh, teasing her. He grazed his tongue right over her, making her moan and she began to breathe more rapidly. He moved his way inward then started to do things with his tongue Frankie had never experienced before.

_Holy fuck he's amazing._

She lifted her pelvis off the bed and gripped the sheets tightly as she came close to climaxing. Will slid his fingers into her then sucked one last time before he moved back up to her lips and kissed her. He bit her bottom lip as they broke the kiss and he sucked on her neck again as he slid his finger in and out of her.

She moaned even more and dug her nails into his back as she came.

Will pulled out a condom from the nightstand struggled to rip the packaging open with his teeth.

"Forget the condom, just fuck me," she whispered into his neck.

He quickly kissed her again and tossed the condom aside as he slid into her. They both moaned at the feeling, then fell into a fast rhythm.

He fucked her hard and good; so good that at one point he had to tell her to be quiet because she was moaning so loudly.

"You feel so fucking good, oh my god," she said to him.

He started to fuck her even faster upon hearing those words and shortly after, he came inside her. He lay on top of her as her face still stayed buried in his neck and he caught his breath. He lifted himself and planted a long kiss onto her lips one more time before rolling over to her side.

"Still scared?" Will asked as they lay in bed next to each other, panting.

"No, you dork," she replied with a laugh. 

He laughed too and pulled her on top of him, then held on tightly as he pressed his lips against hers. He broke the kiss and looked at her.

"What?" She asked.

"I'm never letting you go," he said with a smile.

She blushed and her heart got that warm feeling again. She smiled at him and pressed her lips against his for a long time until it led to them repeating the night all over again. 

* * *

It was late into the night and Frankie lay on top of Will as he had his arms wrapped around her with the bedsheets covering them. She had her head rested on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. It soothed her and made her heart feel warm. "Will?"

"Hm?"

"Why now?"

"What?"

She placed her hands on his chest and rest her chin on the back of them as she looked up at him. "Why did you go after me now and not when we kissed in Prague?"

He looked at her, confused.

"You could've insisted we talk about the kiss after Prague or even gone after me _in_ Prague, so why didn't you?"

"We were focused on Standish and Ollerman."

"But we dealt with that...somewhat," she said as she rolled her eyes and groaned at the thought of Ollerman. "But why didn't you after we dealt with that?"

"I- I just couldn't talk about it because I was too scared I'd scare you off. I needed to know you weren't going to run off like you did in Prague if I wanted to talk about it."

"I ran off this time, so why chase me now?"

"I guess...I'm just tired of worrying about that stuff." He smiled. "Frankie, run all you want from now on, but know that I'll always chase you because I love you."

Her heart became warm again, but she felt herself get chills at the same time. She didn't understand how he did it; how he's the only person who's made her feel that way. She smiled and kissed him.

"You know you're really annoying, right?"

"Yeah, but you love my annoying."

She inhaled a sharp breath at that word: 'love.'

He ran his fingers through her hair as he rubbed her back with his other hand.

She smiled at him and rest her head back on his chest.

He tightened the grip around her waist and she sighed as she closed her eyes then let herself drift off to sleep in his arms. 

* * *

The next morning, Will and Frankie awoke wrapped in each other's arms, much like how they did the first night they'd 'slept together' three days before.

Frankie fluttered her eyes open and looked up at Will. She sighed at the feeling of his skin on hers and smiled at the sight of Will's tousled hair. She reached a hand up to run her fingers through his hair and he awoke at her touch.

He looked down at her as her head remained close to his bare chest and he put a hand on her cheek then stroked it. He smiled and pulled her closer with the arm he had wrapped around her. "You cold?"

"No," she replied, "you're keeping me pretty warm."

He smirked at her comment and she closed her eyes as she let the moment sink in. Will closed his eyes, inhaled and sighed. "Did you steal my shampoo?" He asked while chuckling.

"It smelled nice, can you blame me?" She retorted.

He laughed and gave her a kiss on her head. "I love-" Will's phone began to buzz. He groaned and reached for his phone with his free hand then saw a text from Ray on the screen. "Is this a fucking joke?"

Frankie rolled her eyes and laughed when she peeked at his screen. "I swear, it's like they always know when we're in bed together."

"Yeah, I hope Jai didn't put a camera in our room." He shivered at the thought.

"If he did, I'd have already found out and kicked his ass by now."

He laughed at her comment.

"What does Ray want?"

"He wants us to go play volleyball down by the beach which I think is a dumb thing to be texting us about at...oh shit, 10:34 am."

"Dammit we missed breakfast," Frankie said.

"It's fine we'll get room service. I'll make sure to order some extra bacon for you."

"Wow, you really know the way to a girl's heart, Will," she teased.

He laughed and grabbed the hotel phone then dialed the front desk. "Hi, I'd like to order some room service. Yeah, uh, could I get some waffles with extra whipped cream, scrambled eggs, and a plate of bacon? Great, thanks." He hung up the phone and smiled at himself.

"A whole plate of bacon? Wow, I love you."

Will felt his heart become warm at those words. She loves him.

In the next thirty minutes, the two of them got dressed to go down to the beach for volleyball and the room service arrived.

"Room service!" They hear a man's voice behind the door say as he knocked.

"Coming!" Will said back. He opened the door and the staff member wheeled in a cart with their food.

"Scrambled eggs, waffles with extra whipped cream, and a plate of bacon?"

"Yep, that's us!"

"Great! Let me know if you guys need anything else."

"Thank you." Will shut the door behind the staff member and turned to see Frankie had already taken the plate of waffles and the plate of bacon over to the coffee table and was about to start devouring it.

"Oh my god, I'm starving." She cut out a big piece from the waffles and quickly ate it. "Mhmm, this is so amazing."

"Hey, let me try," Will said as he sat down next to her with his eggs and reached his fork over to her plate.

She slapped his hand and pushed his fork away. "Nope, this is my food, eat your own!"

He laughed and started to eat his own eggs.

They both finished quickly and started eating the plate of bacon until there was one piece left.

"You have it," Will said to her.

She smiled and picked up the bacon from the plate then bit it at one end, but didn't eat it.

"Lady and the Tramp with bacon?" Will questioned.

Frankie shrugged while rolling her eyes. He bit the other end of the bacon and ate it until his lips met hers in the middle. 

Once they finished breakfast, they got up from the couch and cleaned up after themselves. They grabbed their things and headed down to the beach to meet up with the rest of the team who'd been waiting for them for over an hour now, but they didn't care.

While they waited for the elevator, Frankie heard her phone buzz and she fished for it in her bag. She opened the screen to see a text from Ray

It read: "Are you guys almost down here yet?"

"Yes, we just got on the elevator," she replied.

She frowned at his next text and it caught Will's attention.

"Who're you texting?" He asked while trying to peek at her screen, but she quickly held her phone to her chest.

"Just Susan."

"What are you talking about?"

"She just was wondering where we are."

"Oh, okay," he replied. _Is she really texting Susan, or someone else? What is she texting them about? Why'd she looked confused at her screen?_

Frankie put her phone back into her bag and the elevator reached the first floor.

The two of them walked out into the lobby and Will held his hand out to her, but she shook her head.

He showed hurt in his face, but also knew he should've seen it coming; she already admitted she loved him and he was pushing it with the PDA.

"Wait. Can we please not tell Jai, Ray, or Standish. I'm not ready for them to know yet," Frankie asked him.

"Oh...okay, I get it," he assured her. He tried not to show how all he'd wanted to do was go down to that beach and yell out to everyone how he was in love with the most amazing woman and how he's the luckiest man alive, but he failed when he showed disappointment on his face. 

She showed a small smile as a way of saying 'thank you' when she saw his disappointment. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before saying "Okay that's it, no more PDA after that."

He smirked and they both headed down to the beach.

Down at the beach, they met up with the rest of the team, where Standish looked annoyed.

"You guys took way too long," he groaned.

"Sorry," Will said.

"Glad to see you're feeling better, Frankie," Standish said to her.

"Huh?" She asked.

"Standish, you weren't supposed to say anything!" Will snapped.

"Oops, sorry," Standish said as he covered his mouth.

Frankie still looked confused.

Will gave her a look.

She realized he'd made up something about her so she began to play along. "Oh, it's uh fine, I don't really care."

"Okay, good. I didn't want Will to kick my ass because I made him get his ass kicked by you," Standish said, relieved.

"I don't know why we're playing volleyball down here, but Ray wouldn't shut up about it, so let's get this over with," Jai interjected.

"Okay. How do you guys want to do the teams?" Susan asked.

"Girls vs. boys?" Ray suggested.

"There are 2 girls and 4 boys, and I know Frankie and I could easily crush you guys, but how is that fair?" Susan questioned.

"Standish will be on your team. He screams really high-pitched like a girl, so basically it's the same thing," Jai commented.

"That's hurtful, I do not scream that high-pitched," Standish defended.

"Standish, there's a bee on you!" Ray said.

"WHAT!" Standish shrieked so high that he could've broken a wine glass with his voice.

Everyone laughed at him.

He cleared his throat and straightened his expression, "I mean uh- ahem, oh there's a bee? Whatever," he said in a purposefully low voice.

"You're on the girl's team," Will told him while smirking.

"Whatever, y'all are 'bout to get crushed!" Standish said.

"Alright, let's play!" Susan exclaimed.

After a while, the girls plus Standish were beating the guys by a landslide and it was Frankie's serve.

She tossed the ball up and served it with a ton of power. Will could tell she probably played in high school or at least before this because she was way too good.

Will bumped the ball up into the air and Jai approached it, then spiked it over the net, but was blocked by Standish. The ball flew into the air and Susan set it up for Frankie who approached the ball and spiked it over the net with way too much power.

"AHH!" Ray yelled in pain as he fell to the ground while holding his head.

Susan ran under the net to him and began to panic as she saw him wince in pain. "Ray!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, please let me know what you guys think! i love to hear your thoughts and any suggestions you'd like to see in the future.


	10. Familiar Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team is faced with the consequences of their actions which no one saw coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omfg i need to update these chapter more quickly i'm so sorry everyone. BTW WHO ELSE IS SO EXCITED LAUREN'S BACK EEEEE lmao i have a haircut tomorrow and i think i'm cutting my hair her length but i bet no one cares lol. hope you guys enjoy!

"Ray, Ray! Are you okay?!" Susan said with panic in her voice.

"Owwww." He held his head pain as he lay on the sand.

"Ray, you okay?" Standish asked as he and the rest of the team all rushed over to him.

"My head hurts like hell."

"Frankie, why'd you do that?" Will whispered to her.

"What do you mean? It was an accident."

"Didn't seem like it by the smile on your face when you went to spike the ball right at his head."

"It _was_ a mistake, seriously."

"I should be okay, but my head hurts that's all," Ray assured them.

"You sure?" Susan asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Okay," she said as she began to walk back to her side of the net.

Ray started to get up from the sand and stopped when he was on one knee. "Susan."

Standish and Frankie gasped.

Susan turned to see him with a ring in his hand. "What are you doing?" She asked as she started to choke up.

"Marry me?"

"I-How-I can't-What-" she stuttered.

"You okay?" He asked with a smile.

She nodded.

"Is that a yes to my proposal or being okay?"

"Both," she squeaked as she started to cry.

"YES!" Ray said as he got up from the sand to kiss her, then placed the ring onto her ring finger.

"This is why you texted me to spike the ball at your head?" Frankie asked.

Ray shrugged.

Frankie ran over to Susan and hugged her. "I'm so happy for you!"

"Thank you!" Susan said while squealing.

Standish high-fived Ray. "Congrats, man!"

"Thanks! I was kind of scared to do this because I know Frankie was captain of the varsity volleyball team in high school."

"You were?" Will asked her.

She shrugged.

Will gave Ray a hug and congratulated him before going over to Susan to hug her.

"Rayyy," Frankie said as she hugged him. "You hurt her and I'll kill you," she whispered to him.

He stiffened and nervously laughed.

"Let's go get some drinks at the bar, to celebrate!" Standish said.

"Good idea, I need some booze," Frankie said.

"Uh, not too much please," Will said to her.

Frankie's face turned red from embarrassment and shot him a look.

The rest of the team all smirked and they all went over to the bar where they ordered a bunch of drinks to celebrate.

* * *

"To my beautiful fiancé!" Ray said with his beer in the air.

The team all cheered and raised their glasses in celebration.

"Frankie, don't drink too much I don't want to carry you up to the room again," Will whispered into her ear as she took a sip of her drink.

She gave him a glare which was meant to look threatening, but the small smile Will saw forming on her face ruined it.

Standish looked over to his left to see a blue-eyed, brunette girl drinking tequila and chatting away with her other blonde friend.

She glanced over her friend's shoulder while still listening and caught a quick look of Standish before smiling then bringing her eyes back to her friend again.

"Psst, Jai," Standish whispered.

"Hm?"

"You see that girl right there?" Standish asked, gesturing his head towards her.

"You mean the one who's definitely super drunk at twelve in the afternoon? Yeah, I see her."

"No, not her idiot, the brunette."

"What about her?"

"She's totally into me."

Jai laughed. "Okay, Standish."

"I'm serious, Jai! We just made eye contact a few moments ago and she smiled at me," Standish said.

"Wow, you guys going to get married now?" Jai asked teasingly.

"Man, why you always pickin' on me?"

"Because why not?" Jai quickly replied.

"Alright, fine, let's make a bet then."

"What kind of bet?"

"If I can go up to her and get her number, you have to..." Standish pondered his punishment for Jai before he came up with the perfect thing. "...you have to listen to my K-Pop music the entire plane ride back to New York."

"Are you kidding?"

"No. Come on, take the bet, man!"

After some thought, Jai agreed. "Fine. But, if you can't get her number, I get to slap you."

"This isn't a slap bet."

"Well, my part is; yours doesn't have to be."

"Okay, deal." They shook on it and Standish was turned to go talk to the girl, but she had already appeared next to him at the bar.

She moved the section of her hair covering her eyes and cleared her throat. "Excuse me, bartender? Can I please have 2 more shots of tequila?"

"Yeah, sure thing," the bartender replied.

"Thank you."

"Uh- if I may interrupt- this one's on me," Standish said to the bartender.

The bartender nodded and smiled.

"Aw, thank you for the kind gesture, but you didn't have to do that," she said to Standish.

"No, don't worry about it. Hi, I'm Edgar, but everyone just calls me 'Standish.'"

"Maia," she said while smiling.

"It's great to meet you. You know my childhood dog's name was Maia?"

"Are you saying I'm a dog?" She asked while laughing.

"What!? No, no, I wasn't saying you're a- no, no, no, don't worry-"

Jai smirked at the fool Standish was making of himself.

"-my dog was very cute; must be a thing with Maias."

She girl blushed at his comment.

"Are you here on vacation?"

"Yeah, my friend over there, I've known her since the day we were born; our mothers are best friends and so are we."

"That's so cool!"

"Yeah, I love that about our friendship. How about you?"

"Oh, I'm here on, uh, vacation too. Yeah, a bunch of my close friends and I decided to come down here last minute."

"Oh, that's nice, where are you from?"

"We're from New York City," he answered.

"Oh, no way! I live in New York!"

"Small world!" Standish laughed nervously. "Hey, uh, maybe when we both get back to New York we can...see each other again?"

"That sounds lovely," she said with a smile. "Can I see your phone?"

Standish handed it to her without hesitation and unlocked it for her.

She typed into his phone something then gave it back to him, revealing she'd put her contact into his phone. "Hope to hear from you when we get back," she commented with a wink before she walked back over to her friend with the shots she'd ordered earlier.

Standish smiled at her then once she had her back turned did a small victory dance. "In your face, bitch!" Standish said to Jai.

"Oh god," Jai said while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Get ready for a BTS, NCT 127, and TWICE filled plane ride!"

Jai groaned and downed the rest of his beer.

Will and Ray sat at the bar next to each other a few chairs over.

"Wow, Ray, I can't believe you proposed," Will said while giving Ray a pat on the back.

"Yeah, I was pretty nervous," he said with a relieved sigh.

"Susan's lucky. I know things didn't work out between her and her ex-husband, but I think it's because she was meant to be with you."

"Thanks, man, that means a lot." Ray took a sip of his beer before leaning closer to Will. "Hey, um, I know I said earlier that my head hurt from Frankie spiking that ball at me, but when she did, I also felt something else hurt in my head."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, obviously Frankie spiked that ball pretty hard at me and it hurt a little, but when she did it also felt like the radioisotopes we had to leave in my brain to track down Ollerman back in Prague were activated. I was on the ground longer than I intended to be; things have looked a bit blurry since I got hit by that ball."

"You don't think...?"

"I don't know, but I don't want to freak Susan out. Don't say anything to Susan or Frankie. If you tell Frankie she'll probably tell Susan and I don't want her worrying about me."

"Okay."

"Thanks." 

* * *

"What a day," Will said as he and Frankie walked into their room, exhausted.

"I know righ-" Frankie stopped herself when she gagged and raced over to the bathroom.

Will could hear her begin to throw up. "You okay?" He asked as he went into the bathroom to see her over the toilet bowl. He quickly pulled her hair back for her and rubbed her back as she kept throwing up into the toilet.

She groaned and rested her forehead on her arm before having to quickly put her head back up to puke some more.

"My god, are you okay? What'd you eat?" He asked her.

"Just the waffles and bacon we ordered this morning."

"I ate the bacon though, it can't be that because I'm fine. Must've been the waffles. I don't understand how a hotel is rated five-stars if you get food poisoning from the waffles," he commented.

"Me neither. Remind me to give them a bad rating on Yelp," she said to him weakly.

He began to chuckle at her comment but was quickly interrupted as she began to puke again. "You're going to puke out everything in your system. I'm going to get you some water, I'll be right back."

She nodded and groaned as she held her stomach.

He left the bathroom then got a bottle of water from the fridge. He started to go back to the bathroom when he saw a small notecard on the room service tray still on the table which neither of them had noticed before. He went over and picked up the notecard, then read it in his head. _Glad to see some familiar faces here. Hope you enjoyed the meal._ He looked at the bottom of the note to see the initials "A.O." signed. _A.O? Shit._

Will's eyes grew wide and he quickly rushed back over to Frankie. _Ollerman_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please let me know what you guys think of this chapter! i always love to hear your thoughts!


	11. We've Got This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team is dealing with a situation none of them saw coming from their past.

Will quickly began to panic. He sat down beside Frankie again and pulled her hair back as she threw up again.

"What's wrong," Frankie asked him when he came into the bathroom with a worried look on his face.

"Nothing," he replied. "Here," he said as he handed the bottle of water to her. "I'll be right back." He left the bathroom and went out to the balcony, where he quickly called Susan. "Come on, pick up, pick up," he said to himself as he listened to the phone ring. It eventually went to voicemail. "Dammit." He quickly called Jai. 

After two rings, he answered. "What?" Jai asked.

"Ollerman's here," he told Jai.

"What?!" He asked with panic visible in his voice.

"When we got back to our room, Frankie started to throw up, and she's still throwing up now, but I noticed a notecard on the room service tray from when we got food this morning and it read 'Glad to see some familiar faces here. Hope you enjoyed the meal.' Then it was signed 'A.O.' which we both know stands for Alex Ollerman. He put something in Frankie's food and for all we know she could be poisoned with something we can't treat and-"

"Will. Stop. Calm down. I'm coming up to your room and I'm going to tell Standish to meet us at your guys' room. It's no longer safe for us to be going off alone here."

"Okay I'll let you in when you get here, but right now I can hear Frankie still vomiting from outside on the balcony."

"I'm on my way. Go help Frankie."

Will hung up the phone and hurried back over to Frankie who now had her eyes closed and looked irritated.

He rubbed her back. "You okay?"

"Ugh, I feel so sick." He handed her a tissue and she wiped her mouth with it. "Who were you on the phone with?"

"No one, don't worry about it," he responded.

"Will, what's going on?" She immediately questioned.

"Nothing don't worry," he assured her.

"Will, if you don't tell me what's happening I swear to god I'll puke on you and the floor."

"I don't care, I'll clean it up."

"You're too good to me," she answered with an eye roll. "Tell me."

"No."

"Will," she warned him.

"Fine, if you really want to know...Ollerman's here."

"What!? Is he here at the hotel or just on the island?"

"Hotel," he replied.

"How do you know?"

"He left a note when our room service was delivered; he put something in your food."

"Are you fucking kidding me? I'm going to shoot him the minute I see him."

Just then, they heard a knock on the door.

Frankie stiffened and Will saw nervousness flash her face.

"It's just Jai," he assured her. He walked out of the bathroom and over to the door. He looked out the peephole and made sure it really was Jai, then opened the door when he saw him standing there.

"Where is she?" Jai asked as he hastily entered the room.

"Bathroom," Will answered.

Jai rushed over to the bathroom and immediately kneeled down next to Frankie upon seeing her. "Frankie? You okay?"

"I'm going to kill Ollerman."

"Yeah, I hope you do. Scale from one to ten: how sick do you feel?"

"I was at like a nine earlier but now I'm at like a six."

"Did you suddenly feel lightheaded before you threw up?"

"No, I just threw up in my mouth a bit then ran to the bathroom."

"Does your head hurt?"

"Yeah, from all your questions," she quickly answered with a small laugh.

"Come on, seriously, does it hurt?"

"No, I just feel queasy."

"Okay." He got up and motioned for Will to follow him into the living room.

"What's wrong?" Will asked.

"She'll be fine. If this were really bad she would've already passed out by now and we'd be in an emergency room."

"She still was poisoned though."

"Yeah, but I'm thinking that if Ollerman only poisoned her with something not life-threatening that this is some type of warning or a little taste of what he's got in store for us. Standish will be up here soon, he just texted me, but we've got to let Susan and Ray know."

"Susan didn't answer her phone when I called."

"What? Where is she?" Jai asked.

"She's supposed to be back in her room with Ray. God knows what they're doing after the day they've had...blech."

"Gross. I'll call her again." Jai called her and this time she picked up, out of breath.

"Hello?" She answered while panting.

"Um, Sus- Wait, hold on." Jai moved the phone away from his ear and covered the mic before he shivered. "Okay, I'm fine now. Susan, you and Ray need to get here, ASAP."

"Why, what's going on?" She asked.

"Ollerman is here," he replied.

"What!?"

"He poisoned Frankie," he added.

"Is she-"

"She's fine," he quickly assured her, "but you guys need to get to Will and Frankie's room now."

"We're on our way," she responded.

Jai hung up the phone. "I don't understand why Ollerman's bothering us, but he's really getting on my nerves."

"Mine too. What the hell does he want from us?"

"He's supposed to be rotting in a prison cell," Jai commented. 

* * *

_SIX MONTHS EARLIER_

_It was late into the night and there was a very melancholy vibe lingering throughout the Dead Drop. Everyone was exhausted. Three weeks of trying to fulfill Standish's mother's promise of finding Ollerman and still no luck._

_"Ollerman's like my acne in middle school," Will commented. "I swear. At first, the acne seemed okay. Not too bad, you know?. But then suddenly, I'd get this like outburst of pimples and different bumps all over my face and it truly was the most annoying thing ever. Then I went on some treatment and I thought I'd gotten rid of it. BUT THEN THE ACNE CAME BACK AND I SWEAR TO GOD I'VE NEVER BEEN MORE ANNOYED IN MY LIFE. Well, of course, that's until I met Ollerman and then **he** became the thing I'm most annoyed at in life._

_"Why are you talking?" Frankie asked with an exhausted sigh. She'd meant for it to come off more teasingly, but her tiredness only diminished its snarkiness and it instead came off meaner than she'd intended._

_Suddenly, Ray came running into the Dead Drop and everyone jumped out of their seats; they knew something was up. "_ _Guys, there's new intel that Ollerman's in NYC."_

_"Where in New York?" Will demanded._

_"He was last seen at McGee's. It's-"_

_"The bar How I Met Your Mother was inspired by?" Frankie interrupted._

_Everyone stared at Frankie with surprise and confusion visible on their faces._

_She rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you've never watched that show, it's amazing. Don't act so surprised Will, you've watched it with me before."_

_Will raised an eyebrow to say 'fair point,'_

_"Okay, so where do they think he is now?" Jai asked_

_"He was with some man," Ray said. He pulled up the security footage and everyone circled around his phone. They watched as Ollerman shook hands with a man dressed in a navy blue suit who had a briefcase with him which was filled with something unknown, but Ollerman smiled when he saw whatever was inside._

_"Don't tell me he just found someone to fund the Trust," Susan said as she watched the video._

_"I don't know, but we have to move fast."_

_"Okay, let's come up with a plan."_

_The entire team quickly rushed into Will's office and prepared to capture Ollerman._

* * *

_The team all anxiously waited in Will's office, their eyes all glancing at different moments to the same thing: Will's phone._

_Suddenly, it rang, causing everyone to jump out of their seats._

_"Will, answer it," Frankie ordered._

_Will's body felt numb as he held his phone in his hand while it continued to ring. He steadied his breathing and, finally, picked up the phone. "Hi, Julie."_

_"Will, how nice to hear from you!"_

_"Yeah, you too. Um, listen, Julie, this isn't going to be easy to say to you but..."_

_"Is everything alright Will?"_

_"Well...I was wondering if I could ask you a favor."_

_"What is it?"_

_Will felt like he was going to throw up. He didn't know why he was so nervous, but he took a deep breath and said, "You know how Alex's in prison?"_

_"Don't fucking remind me. That piece of shit deserves to rot in that prison cell."_

_"Glad we're on the same page. He's escaped."_

_"Of course he did. Fucking piece of shit."_

_Will raised an eyebrow in agreement at her statement. **She's got that right.** "I need you to do something for me so we can get him back."_

_"What is it?"_

* * *

_"Will Chase. What a pleasant surprise to see you call."_

_"Shut it, Alex."_

_"I'm very impressed you found my number."_

_"We have your wife and son," Will said before Ollerman could make another snarky comment._

_"What?"_

_As dangerous as Ollerman was, Will could sense some fear in his voice._

_"If you don't want them to be dead by the time you get to them then you'll meet us tonight at 11:30 pm, sharp," Frankie added._

_"Francesca Trowbridge, I should've **known** you came up with this."_

_"Actually I didn't, asshole. Will did."_

_"Wow, I can even sense the sexual tension over the phone."_

_"If you don't meet us here at the Dead Drop at 11:30 pm, sharp, with no weapons or backup, then maybe you won't have to see me kill an innocent child."_

_"Don't hurt my kid," he snarled._

_"You already did by being a terrible father."_

_"Fine."_

_He hung up the phone and the team all let out exhausted sighs._

_"Think this will work?" Ray asked._

_"It has to," Susan said._

* * *

_11:24 pm. The team was getting nervous._

_"What if Ollerman sets us up?" Ray asked._

_"Ollerman wouldn't be dumb enough to try something on us when we have his kid. He doesn't want for his kid getting involved in his work because deep down he loves him and wouldn't want any harm to come to him."_

_"Yeah, right. Like Ollerman has a soft spot."_

_"Everyone's got one," Will argued._

_Frankie rolled her eyes at his comment but was about to smile. She knew he'd gotten that from her the day they rescued the little girl in Rome on one of their first missions together but she was too focused on the mission to do so._

_"Two minutes 'til go time, everyone," Ray announced._

_Will turned and looked over to Frankie. She wouldn't stop pacing behind the bar and she was doing the nervous habit of hers Will had noticed recently, where she'd fidget with the bullet necklace he'd given her for Secret Santa. "Hey."_

_She quickly looked up from her necklace to him and stopped pacing._

_Frankie was the CIA's best agent and there was no doubt about that. One of the things which greatly contributed to being the top agent was her ability to show no signs of fear when interrogating or confronting an asset. But this was different. Ollerman had attacked someone who, even though she wouldn't admit it, cared for and the thought of losing someone because she didn't see it coming beforehand terrified her._

_"Don't worry. We've got this."_

_"You can't promise that. Ollerman faked his own suicide and we didn't even see it coming. What if he brings-"_

_She was speaking rapidly and she couldn't stop tapping her fingers on the bar._

_"Hey, hey, hey, look at me, Frankie." He reached over the counter and grabbed her hand._

_Her eyes quickly locked on him._

_"You trust me?"_

_She nodded._

_"The trust me when I say that we've got this."_

_And just like that, Will noticed the nervousness showing in her eyes vanish. The corner of her mouth quirked up and Will squeezed her hand._

_"He's here," Jai said, interrupting their moment._

_They quickly broke apart and shared one last look at each other._

_Everyone gathered at the entrance and all looked at each other and all had the same look of determination on their faces._

_Will looked around at everyone and smiled. "Here we go."_

_The entrance to the Dead Drop flew open and there was Ollerman. He was wearing the same coat Frankie and Will had seen him wearing in Prague, causing the two of them to glance at each other and roll their eyes._

_"Team Whiskey."_

_"Pat him down."_

_Ray walked over to Ollerman and he held his hands up smugly. "You won't find anything on me, Prince."_

_Ray gave him a dirty look. "Shut it." He patted him down and walked back over next to Susan. "He's good."_

_Will looked over to where Jai was. "Jai?"_

_"We're good," he replied._

_"Where's my son?" Ollerman growled._

_"The other room, asshole," Frankie snarled. She cocked her head towards the locked room where the pool table was._

_"Give him to me."_

_"Gladly," Susan replied as she pressed the button to unlock the door._

_They all entered the room, making sure Ollerman couldn't make any sudden moves, then revealed his son sitting tied up in a chair with a blindfold on._

_"Alex." Ollerman attempted to walk over to him, but Ray and WIll stopped him._

_"Dad?" His son questioned. "What's happening?"_

_"Let him go, right now," he whispered to Will._

_"We can't do that unless we don't let you go."_

_Ollerman laughed. "Wow, Whiskey. I knew you'd pull this on me."_

_"You didn't know he'd do this," a voice said from behind._

_Ollerman fell to the ground and clenched his leg in pain._

_"Julie, you can put the gun down now," Frankie assured her._

_"Julie, you bitch," Ollerman snarled._

_Her hand shook as she kept her gun pointed on him while he was on the ground._

_"He deserves to die," Julie said._

_"No. Killing him won't give you closure. He's better off rotting in a prison cell," Frankie assured her._

_"Julie." Will approached her as he saw her eyes start to fill with tears. He reached over to her and put her gun down. "Stand down. It's over."_

_She allowed Will to lower her gun and promptly went over to Ollerman. "You piece of shit."_

_"Mom," Alex scolded._

_"Pardon my french." She went over to him and took his blindfold off , then untied him._

_"Dad, what the hell is wrong with you?"_

_"Alex."_

_"You piece of shit."_

_"Alex," Julie warned._

_"Pardon my french," he said mockingly._

_Frankie laughed._

* * *

_"Thank you again, agents," Director Casey said over the phone._

_"Of course, Director Casey," Will replied._

_"You know I've got to admit when we first put together your team I didn't think it'd work. I mean, a CIA operative working with an FBI agent to lead a team of spies sounded kind of crazy to me, but now I see it was one of the best decisions we've ever made."_

_"Thank you, Director Casey," Frankie replied._

_"Go get some rest. You've all had a long night."_

_"Goodbye, sir."_

* * *

"I wonder which one of his goons helped him escaped this time," Will said to Jai.

"Yeah, seriously. He has too many." Jai shook his head. He and Will went back over to the bathroom to find Frankie on the ground.

"Frankie!" Will shouted as he quickly dropped down next to her side.


	12. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team meets an old friend of Frankie's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, wow. I SUCK at updating these chapters and I truly apologize. I meant for this chapter to come out on Christmas Day, but I don't have a ton of time to update my story because I'm always busy with school and I also rewrote this chapter about five times and I'm still not sure if I like where it's headed. However, I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who's been reading from the start and has actually kept reading each time I update this fic after so long. Please enjoy!
> 
> P.S. I may have something special in the works which is why this was so late, so make sure to check back here soon!

"What?" Frankie asked Will with her eyes still closed.

"My god, I thought you passed out."

"No, I'm fine, stop smothering me." She waved him away with her hand as she wiped her forehead, which was drenched in sweat, with the tissue Will had handed her. "Throwing up really takes a lot out of you."

"Do you still feel nauseous?" Will asked.

"No, I should be fine now." She got up and stumbled.

"Frankie, don't get up too quickly," Will told her. "You're too weak to make it to the bed."

"No, I'm not. I'm fine." She stepped out of the bathroom and nearly fell back onto the floor.

"Yeah, you seem fine." Will wrapped her arms around his neck then proceeded to carry her over to the bed. He set her down when he and Jai suddenly heard a knock at the door.

Jai cautiously walked to the door and let out a small sigh of relief when he looked through the peephole to see Susan, Ray, and Standish all standing there. He quickly let them in and Susan immediately hurried over to Frankie.

She gasped. "Sweetie, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Frankie assured her.

Standish walked over to Frankie's bedside and set his laptop down on the end of the bed.

"How do we know this was Ollerman?" Ray questioned.

Will took out the notecard from his back pocket and handed it to him. Susan and Standish both moved to be next to Ray as the three of them all read it.

"That son of a bitch," Standish said after reading Ollerman's message.

"You've got that right," Frankie agreed weakly.

Will smirked at her.

"I don't understand how he's out of prison again," Standish said as he shook his head.

"It's _Ollerman_. He's got so many goons that I bet one of them helped him with this," Ray said.

Suddenly, everyone's heads turned almost simultaneously at Will's phone on the coffee table as it began to ring. The room turned dead silent with the only sound being Will's ringtone and his phone buzzing on the table.

"Will."

He looked over to Frankie.

"Pick it up," she ordered.

He obeyed and went over to the coffee table. He held his phone up to see the caller ID on the screen. "Unknown caller." He gave them all a look then landed on Frankie, who nodded her head. He walked back over to the team and sat on the edge of the bed next to Frankie before answering. "Hello?"

"Enjoy the meal?"

In an instant, Will could picture the smug smile on the other side of the call, which made him want to punch something. "Ollerman."

"Will Chase. How've you been? Oh- I'm sorry, that's such a ridiculous question. You're obviously great because you've been spending your nights fucking Agent Trowbridge."

Will's eyes widened at Ollerman's comment and he looked over to Frankie.

She looked at him with a puzzled face.

"How do you know that, Alex?" He questioned.

"You know, you should really close your hotel curtains, Chase."

"Creep," he snarled. "What do you want from us?"

"Put him on speakerphone," Susan ordered.

Will ignored her as Ollerman chuckled. "I was thinking. You guys targeted my loved ones-"

"You didn't love your wife, Alex," he quickly corrected.

"I was talking about my girlfriend and my son idiot. Anyways, I had a little epiphany: If you guys can target my loved ones, why can't I target yours?"

Frankie noticed Will clench his jaw and stick his chin out.

"Will?" She questioned.

"What's wrong?" Standish asked after noticing the same thing from Will.

Will's eyes shifted around the room at everyone and his heart started to beat faster.

He immediately put Ollerman on speakerphone and the whole team began to listen.

"How did you get out of prison?" Will challenged.

"Agent Trowbridge has nice friends, you know."

"Who are you talking about, Alex?" Will questioned.

"Francesca?" A voice with an Italian accent spoke.

Frankie's eyes widened and recognition dawned on her face. "Fiero," she snarled.

Jai's brow lifted. He mouthed, "Fiero?"

Frankie nodded with an annoyed eye roll.

Jai scoffed. "Son of a bitch," he said, quietly.

"Fiero said you recently saw his brother in Rome. You remember Marco, right? Agent Trowbridge?"

Susan had a shocked expression on her face upon hearing those words and looked over to Frankie for clarification. "Really?" She mouthed.

Frankie looked over to Susan and nodded.

"Fiero here, tells me you, him, and his brother used to do jobs together before you joined the CIA," Ollerman added.

"What the hell do you want from me, Fiero?" Frankie asked.

"You killed my brother Francesca. How could you? After all the jobs we did together?"

"You didn't even like your brother, Fiero," she countered.

"He's still family...and _nobody_ messes with my famiglia."

"I think what Fiero's trying to say here, Agent Trowbridge, is that you'd better watch your back," Ollerman clarified.

Frankie swallowed hard and gave a nervous look to Will.

"Nice talking to you all," he remarked, very aware he was put on speakerphone.

"Wasn't nice for any of us," Will growled.

"See you soon, Francesca," Fiero added before the phone was hung up.

The team all stood there puzzled and nervous about the phone call.

Will immediately took charge. "Alright, alright, no one panic. This is okay. At least they were dumb enough to warn us they're going after Frankie."

"Why'd they say loved ones? Frankie, do you love us?" Standish asked teasingly.

She shot him a death stare and Standish immediately hid behind Jai.

Will looked at her and she noticed him staring with a smirk on his face. She knew exactly why he was smiling and rolled her eyes at him.

"I usually wouldn't be fazed by this stuff because if you're an agent who has no one trying to kill them for revenge then you aren't doing your job right, but Fiero's different. I've worked with him before and he's the guy people would go to when they needed a job to be done quietly or with no trace of it left behind."

"I remember Fiero," Jai mentioned, annoyed.

Everyone quickly turned their heads towards Jai.

"Wait how do you know him if Frankie knew him before the CIA?" Standish questioned.

Jai looked over to Frankie and she sighed.

"Jai met Fiero when we were hired for a job," Frankie clarified.

"You and Jai _both_ used to be assassins?" Will asked.

"He wasn't working with me...Fiero and I were the ones who were hired for the job," she answered.

"That doesn't answer the question," Ray added.

"Jai was our...target," she quietly revealed.

The rest of the team stared at both Frankie and Jai with the same stunned expressions on their faces.

"You- what?" Standish stuttered. "You were hired to kill Jai? Why?"

"It's in the past. I don't want to get into it," Frankie replied.

"Let's just say this: Frankie wouldn't be with us right now if it wasn't for me," Jai added.

"Jai saved your life?" Standish asked.

"On multiple occasions, but that's not what he means. Why do you ask so many questions, Standish?"

"I'm curious to know about what Frankie five or ten years ago was like," he replied.

"Young and reckless. There, Standish. Now can we please focus on preventing a cocky Italian dude from killing me?"

"Right, okay we need to make a plan," Will said.

"You and your plans," Frankie said as she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry. But if I recall, someone just said five seconds ago, that they wanted to focus on preventing a 'cocky Italian dude' from killing them." He lifted a brow as he tilted his head and she huffed.

"Whatever, but I make the plan."

"We're supposed to be leaders, so how about we do this...together?" He suggested while gesturing to the two of them.

"Can y'all just stop flirting and come up with something?" Standish said, completely oblivious of what he'd just said.

Their faces turned red and Will cleared his throat. "Frankie, how exactly does Fiero do his jobs?"

"Anyone who would hire Fiero knew they'd have to hire him at least a month in advance because he studies his targets' whereabouts for that period of time before he actually takes action," she answered.

"That son of a bitch once gave me a watch which I discovered was a tracker within a week of wearing it," Jai said.

"Since when do you not wear your own jewelry which contains explosives in it?" Standish questioned.

"That was the last time, okay," Jai replied.

Frankie smirked. "I'm assuming since Ollerman's revealed he's working with Fiero that it's almost been a month since they first got into contact with each other, so we don't have much time left before he'll make a move."

"How much time do you think we'd have left, exactly?" Will asked.

"I'd say two days...maybe even a day," Frankie answered hesitantly.

"Okay, don't panic."

"No one's panicking, Jai," Will commented.

"I was talking to myself." He was pacing around the room and running his hand through his hair.

The team hadn't seen Jai nervous too often. He'd only been nervous for two different reasons so far: when Frankie and Will were diffusing a bomb on their mission in Rome, and anytime they'd dealt with Ollerman.

Will leaned over to Frankie and whispered to her, "What's wrong with Jai."

Frankie gave him a look that was saying to 'bear with her.' She took her bullet necklace and began rolling it in between her pointer finger and thumb as she spoke. "Will."

"What did he do to Jai?"

"Can we talk about this another time?" She asked.

Will saw the worry in her eyes and decided to back down.

"Okay." He reached for her hand and she quickly pulled it away. She gave him a look before motioning to everyone else in the room with her eyes and he quickly remembered her asking him to not let the others know. He nodded.

Ray watched as Jai fidgeted with the cuffs of his suit as he paced around the room.

"Jai."

Jai was snapped out of his pacing and he looked over to Ray.

"It'll be all right," Ray assured him.

Jai sighed and shook his head. "I should've killed him when I had the chance."

Frankie sighed. "Jai."

He glanced over to Frankie and her head was tilted. "You couldn't have and you know that. I most definitely know you don't regret doing what you did the last time we saw him."

Jai nodded with a small smile. "Not at all."

The rest of the team all looked at each other, puzzled. They had no clue what Jai or Frankie was talking about, but one of them was going to ask later (probably Standish).

"Did Ollerman mention anything before you put him on speakerphone?" Susan asked.

Will avoided eye contact with her. _'...you've been spending your nights fucking Agent Trowbridge.'_ "No, not really, he was just being his usual cocky asshole self."

Susan furrowed her brows and Will could tell she was studying him.

"Mhmm, okay," she said after she'd noticed Will's face get red.

"Standish, can you find the location of where that call took place?" Ray asked.

"Can I?" Standish scoffed. "I'm offended you would even doubt me for a second. That's like asking a monkey if he can peel a banana. Or asking Beyoncé if she can sing."

"Okay, sorry, Standish," Ray apologized.

"Or asking Kobe Bryant if he can play basketball," he rambled on.

"Okay, Standish," Will said.

He didn't stop. "Or-"

"Or asking me if I can punch you so hard it'll leave your arm bruised for days," Frankie chimed in.

Standish immediately shut up and his eyes widened. He quickly went over to his laptop and began rapidly typing in fear of what Frankie would do to him if he didn't.

His brows furrowed. "The call was made at the...Sheraton Hotel in room 1830. That's-"

"-right across from our room," Frankie finished. Her head jolted towards the window which was facing another hotel not too far away in the distance.

"Shut the window," Will ordered.

Jai was already storming over to the window and quickly shut the curtains.

"No one is allowed to go anywhere alone anymore," Will declared.

"Agreed, it's the safest thing to do right now," Susan added.

A knock on the door caused the room to go dead silent.

Ray, being the closest to the door, carefully walked over to it and looked out the peephole to see nobody. "There's no one there," he whispered, concerned.

"What do you mean?" Susan asked. "Let me see." She quietly walked over to the door and quickly glanced out of the peephole to see a tray sitting in front of the door.

She looked back at the team and her eyes were wide. "There's a tray outside the door," she stated.

"It wasn't there a minute ago," Ray added.

"Should we open the door?" Standish asked.

"No, we don't know if Ollerman planted explosives in it," Ray quickly warned.

Susan peeked out through the peephole again and noticed on the tray, the handle of the lid covering the plate contained a small screen counting down from 15 minutes. "He definitely planted a bomb," Susan said. "We have 15 minutes."

"Shit," Will said as he ran a hand through his hair nervously. "We have to diffuse it. We don't even know how this bomb works."

"Open the door," Jai said.

"But, Jai-"

"Open the door," he ordered again.

Will inhaled a deep breath and walked over to the door. He carefully opened it to see the tray sitting at his feet with the countdown that now read 14 minutes remaining.

"Bring it to me," Jai directed.

Will sighed and leaned down to pick up the tray. When he had it in his hands, he became suspicious. He lifted it up and down a few times then uncovered the lid slowly. "There's no bomb in here."

"What?" Frankie asked.

"There's nothing here," he said again.

Standish looked through the doorway out of suspicion and panicked when he saw a gun pointed towards Will from around the corner. "Will, duck!"

As soon as he'd warned Will, gunshots were fired from down the hall. 

Everyone got down and Frankie rolled off the bed a few feet next to Will near the door.

"Someone close the door!" Susan yelled.

Standish quickly kicked it shut. Three more bullets hit the door and Jai started panicking.

"Fiero's here," Frankie stated.

"How do you know?" Will asked as another bullet went through the door.

"He's using the 'Get Served.' It's one of his oldest tricks.'" Frankie rolled her eyes. "I hate that name so much."

"We're trapped in here. The only way out's the balcony and there's no way we're making it down alive," Standish yelled as two more bullets came through the window with its curtains shut.

Frankie looked around in a panic to find anything which could help them in this situation and she glanced down at the ring on her right hand. "Jai!" She immediately took it off and tossed it to him.

"Are you going to explode something?" Standish asked.

"Can you shut it for one second?" Jai snapped.

"Geez, sorry," Standish replied.

Jai looked to Will. "When I get to three, open the door then shut it quickly once I've thrown this."

Will nodded.

Jai began counting. "One...two..."

Before Jai could reach 'three,' Will glanced over to see a red dot aimed at Frankie's chest.

"...three!" Jai pressed the diamond in the middle of the ring and instead of opening the door, Will screamed for Frankie to move, then quickly jumped in front of her as he braced himself.

"No!" Frankie screamed as she watched Will fall to the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed and please let me know your thoughts in the comments! I always love getting feedback from you guys!


	13. Do I Know You?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frankie's emotions are tested when a new problem arises, Jai and Susan must face things from their pasts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUYS, PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR NEVER UPDATING OMG
> 
> All right, I've rewritten this chapter so many times now and I still don't know if I like it, but I hope you all enjoy! I'm sorry this is so late, but hopefully, my fic can entertain you all during these tough days. 
> 
> I've also have been writing something which is in the works which you'll have to wait a little longer for...(please don't hate me!)
> 
> Enjoy!

"Someone open the door for me, this ring is going to go off!" Jai yelled.

Standish took control and quickly swung open the door and a few more gunshots came through, but Jai tossed the ring into the hallway and he quickly shut the door.

All within a matter of a few seconds, Will had pushed Frankie out of range from the sniper and jumped in front of a bullet for her, causing the entire team to immediately panic ten times more than they already were.

Frankie, however, was freaking out more than any other person on the team.

She moved her and Will to be in a safer position and held him in her lap. "Will!? Will!? Can you hear me? Stay awake!" She shook him as he held his right abdomen in pain.

"Frankie," Will answered weakly.

"Will, stay awake!" Frankie pleaded. She was doing her best to keep it together, but her tears were already flooding down her cheeks. "You're going to be okay, Will! Just stay awake! Please!"

"Standish where did that sniper come from!?" Susan shouted from the other side of the room.

"There!" He hurriedly pointed to a building across from their balcony.

"Everyone stay out of sight from the windows!" Ray ordered.

"Will! Are you okay!?" Susan called.

Frankie had her hands on Will's wound and couldn't stop herself from crying.

"I'm okay, Susan. Don't worry!" He answered, still weakly.

More bullets came through the door and Standish jumped each time they'd break the glass on the windows across from it.

Frankie moved her head forward and closer to Will. She cried even more as she whispered into his ear, "I love you, please don't leave me."

Will shook his head. "Hey, hey, no. Don't do that, Frankie, it'll be okay," he assured her. "Check if I have an exit wound."

Frankie lifted him a bit and checked like he'd told her to. "You do. You do," she said, the second time being a reassurance to herself he has a higher chance of being all right. She sighed with the slightest bit of relief.

She sniffled and put a hand to Will's cheek. "Will, this was _my_ fault, you didn't have to take that bullet for me." She stroked her thumb along his cheek and he lifted one of his hands to hold hers.

"The world needs Frankie Trowbridge more than it needs me."

Frankie let a small smile show and shook her head. She hated how he was still being romantic as hell towards her. "You're so wrong," she told him. "I can't live in a world without you."

He weakly raised a hand up to wipe away a tear that began to fall down her cheek and squeezed the hand of hers which she was pressing to his wound.

She began to lean her head down to kiss him, but he stopped her.

He turned away. "No, Frankie-"

"Screw my rules. I don't care the team's around, just kiss me, please," she pleaded quietly.

"No, Frankie," he said again.

"Will-"

"You want to kiss me because you think you're saying goodbye."

Frankie went silent when Will spoke because...he was right.

"You aren't saying goodbye, Frankie. I am not going to die on you." He shook his head slightly and to the best of his ability. "Not today."

She scoffed, then followed it with an eye roll and smile. "You're annoying, you know that right?"

Will grinned and began to laugh, but stopped due to the sharp pain which came with it.

"It's okay, it's okay." Frankie ran her fingers through his hair as he groaned in pain.

Susan watched from the other side of the room as Frankie cried while holding Will in her arms and couldn't help but feel awful and happy at the same time for them.

"Jai, did I miss something? I didn't hear the ring explode. What happened?" Standish asked after a minute of not hearing anything.

"Just wait," Jai replied.

"Are we safe? Is it going to go off? How are we going to get out?" Standish questioned, frantically.

"I said to just wait!" Jai snapped. 

"Standish, everything's going to be fine," Susan assured him.

"He does have a point though. How the hell do we get out of here?" Ray whispered to Susan.

"I don't know, just don't make Standish more scared than he already is," Susan whispered back.

The gunshots coming from behind the door came to a sudden stop.

"We should be in the clear," Jai said.

"There could still be snipers be careful," Susan warned.

"We need to get Will to a hospital. Now," Frankie quickly said.

"Ray! Go help Frankie," Susan directed frantically.

He quickly ran over to Frankie while still staying low and checked to see how critical Will's condition was.

"Wait, what happened? Jai where was the explosion?" Standish asked.

Frankie's eyes went wide with fear as she watched Standish, completely oblivious about himself, get up from his position on the ground. "Standish get down!" She quickly yelled.

Standish immediately moved to get back down into a crouch position behind the bed and out of sight from the window, but he was a second too late.

"Son of a bitch!" Standish held his shoulder in pain as the bullet, which had meant to hit him in the chest, hit his left shoulder as a result of him moving when Frankie yelled.

"Standish! Shit!" Susan swiftly ran over to Standish, who was now sitting on the ground next to Jai and clutching his shoulder.

Jai quickly took his pocket square and held pressure to Standish's shoulder with it.

"Son of a bitch, Standish!" Jai said, frustrated.

"We've got to get these two out of here!" Susan said as she tried to help Standish with his pain.

"Frankie, let go. I can carry him now," Ray told her as he moved to take Will from her arms.

"No," she said as more tears came streaming down her face.

"Frankie."

She completely ignored Ray and put all her attention towards Will, who was struggling to stay awake in her arms. "Will? Will, can you hear me?" She cried harder as his eyes closed and he could no longer stay conscious.

"Jai, open the goddamn door!" Ray yelled. "We're getting out of here!"

Ray snatched Will from Frankie's arms and into his.

"We need to do this quickly. Everyone needs to get out of the room as quickly as possible and Susan, I need you to shut the door as soon as we're all in the hallway," Ray ordered. "Everyone clear?"

"Yes," Jai confirmed.

"Jai, open the door when I say to."

Jai nodded and Ray prepared himself to carry Will out of there as quickly as possible.

He braced himself and quickly glanced down at Will, who lay unconscious in his arms.

Ray swallowed hard at the sight of him. _You can do this, Ray. He's saved your life before, now you need to save his. You can do this._

He took one last look at the team then took in a deep breath.

"Now!" He shouted.

Jai swung the door open and the team all moved as fast as they could out of that room. Jai helped Standish up to his feet and out of the room as quickly as they could move, followed by Ray who was carrying Will with Frankie right by his side, then lastly Susan, who quickly shut the door behind herself.

"Woah." Standish stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a very strong and good looking man on the ground in front of his feet.

"I told you to always wear that ring," Jai said to Frankie.

"What the hell was in that ring?" Standish questioned.

"Nerve gas. Let's go," Jai replied, curtly.

Susan called an ambulance and by the time they'd gotten down to the lobby, the ambulance had arrived.

Ray quickly set Will down onto the stretcher and let out a sigh of relief.

Standish followed the paramedics to the ambulance, where they told him to get in so they could treat his shoulder.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, I need to be with him!" Frankie insisted to one of the paramedics.

"I'm sorry, miss, but we can only take one extra passenger with us and the other young man with the GSW to his shoulder is occupying that seat. You can meet us at the hospital, where we'll be treating the gentleman with the GSW to his abdomen," the paramedic replied in a hurry.

"No, you need to let me be with him!" Frankie screamed. Her fists balled up as she held back her tears from streaming down her cheeks.

"Franks, it's okay. Back down," Susan said from behind.

"No! This happened because of me. I should be with Will."

"No," Susan shook her head. "This isn't your fault Frankie. Let them take Will to the hospital," Susan said as she gently placed a hand on Frankie's shoulder.

Frankie's throat became tight and she quickly turned around to let herself cry into Susan's shoulder.

"Where are you taking him?" Ray asked the paramedic.

"Straub Medical Center," they replied.

"Thank you."

The ambulance sped away and Ray quickly asked for the valet to get the rental car Will and Frankie had used for their cover story.

The car was there in two minutes and Ray got into the driver's seat.

Jai stood back. "I need to go deal with Fiero and make sure he doesn't go anywhere. I'll meet you guys there as soon as I'm finished."

Ray nodded and told Frankie and Susan to slide into the backseat.

Jai ran off towards the elevator and they sped off.

* * *

Back on their floor, Jai exited the elevator to see Fiero still lying unconscious on the ground. 

Jai took out zip ties he'd stashed in his pockets before seeing Frankie and tied up Fiero.

It'd been a long time since Jai had last seen Fiero and Jai still couldn't bring himself to talk about the last encounter they'd had since it happened, not even with Frankie.

The memory of what had happened that night brought out anger in him which he'd always just bury deep down inside himself because he was too nervous to talk about it, but now, Jai couldn't avoid it. Fiero was right below him and the sight of him made that anger in Jai finally come out.

Jai dragged him into the elevator and back to his room where he tied Fiero to a chair at his hands and ankles with knots which he was definitely not getting out of.

"Wake the fuck up you son of a bitch." Jai slapped Fiero across the face so hard he woke up with a grunt.

Fiero slowly opened his eyes and groaned from the pain of the slap. "Hell of a slap. Last time you slapped me that hard was when I'd lost that slap bet we'd made about Frankie."

"Shut the fuck up."

"Nice to see you, Jai," Fiero said with a sinister grin.

Jai scoffed. "Wish I could say the same, asshole," he snarled.

"So, what've you been up to?" Fiero asked. "Oh...how are your parents?" Fiero flashed his cocky smirk again at Jai once again, causing Jai to immediately punch him so hard he fell backward in his chair.

"Don't you _dare_ talk about my parents. You mention them again and I swear to god you'll look like a completely different person once I'm done beating your ass," Jai snapped.

"Hey, hey. I'm just trying to catch up with you Jai," he replied with an ominous laugh.

"Cut the shit. Where's Ollerman."

"What's Frankie up to?" Fiero answered instead, completely ignoring Jai's question. "I miss her. Especially in the bedroom. Hey, is she really fucking this 'Will' guy?"

Jai clenched his jaw and took out his knife. He proceeded to stab Fiero in the leg letting out another grunt from him. "Say her name one more time and I might prevent you from ever getting that hypothetical family you've always wanted," Jai warned as he dragged the knife upwards.

"Oh, Jai. Please. We both know you aren't capable of that. I mean, what you did for Frankie the last time we saw each other just proves how little of a man you are. You two are honestly made for each other."

Jai stabbed him again, making Fiero clench his fists and yell in pain as Jai twisted the knife.

"Where is Ollerman?" Jai asked again.

"Long gone by now. You guys had your chance to see him if Franks was dead."

Jai punched Fiero.

Fiero grunted and shut his eyes at the pain he felt on the right side of his face. "You're all so naive. You may think it's all ended and that you're safe, but you should know by now...Ollerman is always watching."

Jai punched Fiero again. "I swear to god, I'm not here to play games, Fiero."

Fiero glared up and Jai clenched his fist as his nostrils were flared. "You _ruined_ my life."

Jai punched him for the third time, but harder, knocking Fiero unconscious.

* * *

The whole car ride to the hospital Frankie couldn't stop crying.

"Shh, shh it's okay." Susan held Frankie in her arms as she cried.

"I did this Susan." Frankie sniffled and shook her head. "I swear I'm cursed."

"No, you're not. If anything you're a blessing. A blessing to Will," Susan assured her. She lowered her voice before whispering, "He's never loved anyone as much as he loves you."

Frankie looked up to Susan with red eyes and smiled as Susan wiped her tears away.

They arrived at the hospital and Ray had somehow managed to get there at the same time the ambulance was pulling into the trauma pit.

The paramedics unloaded Will out of the ambulance and Frankie quickly got out of the car before Ray had stopped it then immediately ran to be next to Will's side.

Susan got out of the car and Ray went to park the car.

"Standish, you okay?" Susan asked as he got out of the ambulance with a paramedic.

"I'm fine. It was a 'through and through,'" he assured them as he pointed to the bandage around his shoulder.

"How's Will?" She asked.

"The bullet went through part of his liver, but it was a through and through like mine. They're taking him to surgery now."

"Oh my god," Susan shook her head and let out a long breath.

"I'm going to kill Ollerman when I see him," Standish said. "This is literally the second time I've ended up with a wound from him and I am not letting him give me a third."

Susan patted Standish on the back and nodded at him.

"Hey, guys," Jai said from a distance as he ran over to them. "Standish, how are you doing? How's Will?"

"I'm fine, it was a through and through. The bullet went through part of Will's liver so they're taking him up to surgery right now."

"What happened to Fiero?" Susan asked.

"I tied him up in a chair and he woke up from the nerve gas."

"What'd you do with him?"

"I beat him up more than he needed to be beaten up, but that's his fault. He wouldn't answer my questions."

"Did he tell you where Ollerman is?" Standish asked.

"All he said is he's 'always watching.' I knocked him out with a punch to the left side of his face then handed him off to the police because I got too annoyed with him at that point."

"I wish I got to punch him," Standish said disappointed.

"Don't worry. I'll find a way to let you," Jai assured him.

"Susan, where's Will?" Ray approached them, out of breath from running from the parking lot to the hospital. He looked over to see Standish standing next to her. "Oh, hey. Standish, you okay, man?"

"Okay I've had to explain this for the third time today, so Imma say this real quick. I'm fine, through and through. Will's in surgery, the bullet went through part of his liver. No one asks me what happened again or I swear to god I will-"

"Excuse me."

The team all turned towards a police officer standing behind them. He had stubble growing on his face and was wearing stereotypical sunglasses a cop on a tv show would wear, but he definitely wasn't like those cops. He was really tall—taller than Ray—but for some reason, they didn't feel that intimidated by him. Susan especially.

"I need to ask you guys a few questions," he said.

"I'm sorry, but can this wait for later?" Ray asked.

"No, sir. I was told to ask you guys some questions about what happened at the Lett Waikiki Resort," the officer replied.

"Sir, we're all part of the FBI and CIA. Our boss will listen to what happened." Ray replied curtly.

"Oh, I know." The officer whipped out his gun and pointed it at Ray. "Agent Prince."

Susan took a step forward and held out a hand to try and diffuse the situation, but stopped and frowned when she looked at the officer more closely.

She moved closer to him once again to get a better look. Her eyes went wide. "Wait-"

"Don't move. I _will_ shoot him."

She stiffened at his voice and quietly gasped as her face went white. She felt like she was living a nightmare. "Oliver?"

The officer clenched his jaw at her questioning him.

"Wait. _You're_ Oliver?" Ray questioned.

"Oliver, did Ollerman put you up to this?" Susan asked.

"Susan," he warned.

"Oliver, why are you doing this?" She questioned.

"Don't ask," he replied.

"Oliver this isn't you," Susan responded.

"I'm sorry. Am I missing something? Everyone seems to know who Oliver is except for me," Standish interrupted.

Susan cleared her throat and played with her engagement ring as she nervously looked back and forth between Standish and Oliver. "Oh, uh...this is...Oliver. My, um..."

"...ex-husband," Ray finished after becoming impatient.

Susan shook her head and turned back to Oliver with a confused expression. "Oliver, why is Ollerman making you do this?"

"I'm sorry, Susan," he answered.

Susan's frown turned to a sympathetic look. "Ollie."

"Suze, don't." Oliver looked over to Susan then back at Ray. "I'm sorry this is how we had to meet," he said to Ray. He disabled the safety on his gun and his finger moved over the trigger.

A gunshot rang through the air as the rest of the team stood there, shocked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed and please comment on your thoughts! I love getting feedback from you guys!
> 
> Stay safe and indoors!


	14. Mr. Rogers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a shocking turn of events, the team must decide what they're going to do next. Frankie's emotions are challenged as she waits to hear Will's fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! As promised via my twitter, I'm going to be posting a chapter every Wednesday from now on so you guys aren't bored during quarantine :)

"Oh my god, Oliver!" Susan dropped down to the ground next to Oliver as he held his leg in pain. She directed Ray to help her move him out of sight from buildings, but Ray stood still.

Jai swiftly went to help Susan and the two of them moved Oliver into a corner, where they couldn't be seen.

"Who shot that?" Standish asked as he frantically scanned their surroundings.

"I did."

Ray was snapped out of his thinking and he looked over to the emergency room exit, where Frankie stood, hands shaking as she had her gun still raised at Oliver.

"Thank you, Frankie," Ray said.

She nodded.

"We need to get him inside and stitched up," Susan said.

"Who...who is that man?" Frankie quietly asked with her gun still raised.

"Oliver," Ray replied.

"Like, _Oliver_ , Oliver?" Frankie questioned, putting her gun down.

Susan nodded. "Ray, can you please help me bring him inside?"

Ray had zoned out again.

"Ray!" Susan repeated.

His head darted back in Susan's direction and as soon as he saw Susan on the ground helping Oliver, anger flashed his face. He stormed over to Oliver, grabbed him by his collar, and dragged him on their way into the emergency room.

"Ray, let go of his collar," Susan said.

Ray ignored Susan and continued to drag him until they were in the lobby of the emergency room and Ray said, "We need a doctor."

A doctor immediately rushed over to Oliver's side and brought him to a bed.

"How perfect!" Ray grabbed Oliver's handcuffs and forcefully handcuffed him to the hospital bed. "Don't try anything. I swear to god I'll hurt you."

"Ray," Susan pleaded.

"What, Susan?" He snapped.

"Stop it right now," she ordered.

"No, Susan. I've had it. I am tired of being afraid of everything Ollerman threatens us with. I am not going to stop searching for him until I see he's dead with my own eyes. He's caused enough damage and if he tries to hurt this team one more time, like Standish said, 'Ollerman better hope he doesn't cross paths with me.'"

"Ray, I'm starting to get worried about you," Susan responded.

"Susan. I am fine. I'm just tired. I don't want anything to happen to you, do you understand?" He took her hand and held onto it. "I love you."

Susan's look of concern softened into a small smile. "I love you too."

"Uh, Frankie. You okay?" Standish asked.

Everyone glanced over to Frankie who was pacing back and forth and breathing heavily.

"I'm fine, I...I'm going to wait for Will to get out of surgery. I'll see you guys later."

Frankie hastily walked out of the emergency room, but not without bumping into some people on her way to the waiting room. When she got there, she immediately sat down and closed her eyes before letting out a big sigh. 

_This is your fault. You did this._

It was inevitable this was going to happen. Frankie had already grieved over too many deaths of her loved ones too many times. She'd grieved over her mother and father for months and not long after that, the death of her childhood dog, and she never knew if she could be as happy as she was before their deaths, ever again. But it wasn't until she met Will that she truly knew everything would be okay. Or at least she thought everything would be fine.

Now the one person who she'd go to for comfort in times like these wasn't there and she couldn't hold back her tears any longer.

She sobbed in the waiting room, not giving a damn about any other families or people watching her do so.

Who cares. They don't know what she's done. 

They don't know that she's caused so much pain to everyone she loves.

"Excuse me, mam."

Frankie wiped her tears and shot up out of her seat when she saw Will's doctor standing in front of her.

"Is-is he okay?" She stuttered. 

"Well, the bullet penetrated part of his liver, however, he was very fortunate because luckily it was a through and through. We just made sure his liver was all right and fixed him up. Even though this gunshot wound wasn't fatal, and I would usually send people in his condition home, he did lose a lot of blood when he arrived here, and he was unconscious, so I would like to watch him overnight just to monitor him for a bit."

"So, he's all right?"

The doctor shook his head. "Yes."

"Oh my god." Frankie let out a huge sigh of relief and without thinking, hugged the doctor tightly. It wasn't like her, but she didn't care because this man had saved the love of her life. "Thank you. Thank you," she repeated.

"It's no problem, miss." The doctor broke their embrace and stepped back. He smiled. "You're Frankie, right?"

"Yes, I am." She raised her voice a little making it sound more like a question.

The doctor laughed and shook his head. "You were the first thing he'd mentioned when he woke up about ten minutes ago. He kept asking me where you were and if I could go get you."

Frankie's face turned red and her heart got that warm feeling it gets whenever she thought about Will. 

"Do you want to go up to see him?"

Frankie nodded and followed the doctor to the elevator.

The doctor chuckled to himself while they stood in the elevator.

"I'm sorry, is there something funny?" Frankie asked.

"It's just, and I mean this in the best possible way, I've never seen a man more head over heels in love with anyone than your man is with you."

Frankie was surprised to hear him say that, but it shouldn't have been much of a shocker, considering she was equally as head over heels in love with Will as he was with her, if not maybe more.

"Oh," she replied, not knowing how to respond.

The elevator reached the floor Will was on and the two of them headed towards his room.

"Wait, I should warn you," the doctor said, stopping Frankie before they entered Will's room. He doesn't seem to be quite off the anesthesia, so don't be too surprised if he's a bit...loopy."

Frankie chuckled. "Wait, so you're telling me he's acting like Mr. Rogers with a big scar on his abdomen?" She asked.

"Yeah, you might want to film it," the doctor replied with a smirk.

They entered the room and Will immediately smiled upon seeing Frankie.

"Heyyyyy you! Ohhh my god, you are so beautiful!" He said to Frankie as she went to be at his bedside. He was laughing at everything.

"Hi," Frankie said softly as she smiled at how cheery he was. 

"Owww my stomach hurts, oh god," he still said with a smile as he grunted when he began to laugh again.

Frankie smiled. "You were shot and part of the bullet went through your liver so you needed surgery," she explained to him as she ran her finger through his hair.

The doctor chuckled and said he'd back in a few hours to check up on how he's doing.

Frankie thanked him and Will asked her to lean in because he had to tell her something.

"What is it, Will?" She asked, smiling.

"This is a secret. Don't tell anyone," Will said.

"Okay, I won't tell anyone," she agreed, leaning closer to him.

"I love youuu," he whispered giddily into her ear.

She smiled as tears in her eyes began to form. "I love you too."

Will's face lit up. "You do?" he asked innocently.

She nodded with a smirk. "Yeah, I do."

"That's nicee," he said in response. "Can I tell you another secret?"

"Sure," she answered, now unable to hold in most of her laughter.

She leaned in close to him once again and listened to what he had to say.

"I want you to marry me."

That stopped her giggling. Her eyes went wide and her body stiffened "W-what?" She faltered.

"Shhhhhh." He put a finger to her lips and shushed her. "Don't let anyone else knowww!"

"I- okay." Frankie knew it was the drugs talking, but she couldn't help but wonder if that was what Will really thought.

They say drunk words are sober thoughts and Will sure as hell is acting like he's drunk.

"I'm tired," Will announced.

Frankie shook herself out of her thinking and comforted Will. "It's okay. You can rest."

"Okay," he said softly. He swiftly drifted off to sleep and Frankie remained next to his bedside as she held his hand. While he rested she sat there, conflicted on how she should feel about Will's words.

_Is he being serious?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and please leave your feedback in the comments! I love to hear all of your thoughts about my fic!


	15. Perfect Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frankie and Susan make an interesting discovery, causing Susan's reaction to surprise everyone. Will and Frankie discuss their relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! How are you all holding up in quarantine? I've really enjoyed writing this fic during my time in quarantine and I hope you all enjoy it so far!

The rest of the team has been camping out in the waiting room since yesterday.

Standish has made a makeshift bed using chairs in the waiting room, Jai is on his fourth cup of coffee, which no one understands why he likes, Susan is resting her head against Ray's shoulder, and Ray is on the phone with Director Casey.

"Thank you, sir. Enjoy the rest of your week." Ray hangs up the phone. "So, I talked with Director Casey and he's agreed to extend our time here due to the fact that we couldn't really enjoy two of those days."

"And the whole Fiero-Ollerman fiasco?" Standish asks.

"Fiero was brought in for questioning, but no word on Ollerman. Director Casey says he was last seen around the time when the attack happened at the Sheraton Hotel.

Jai lets out a long sigh and finishes his coffee. "I'm getting more." He gets up out of his seat and Standish crinkles his nose at him in disgust.

"Man, don't be complaining when your stomach hurts later from all the shitty coffee you've been drinking!" Standish calls out.

Jai leaves the waiting room and ignores Standish's comment.

Standish shuts his eyes and goes back to sleep.

"Psst, hey," Ray whispers to Susan once he knows Standish isn't listening.

"Hmm?" She returns.

"Do you think Frankie and Will-"

"Oh, yeah, they totally did it," Susan answers before he could finish his sentence. 

Ray quietly chuckles at her. "How are you so sure?" He asks.

"Are you kidding? You didn't see the giant hickey on Frankie's neck?" Susan questions.

Ray's eyes go wide like they're searching for answers. "What hickey?" Ray replies excitedly in a whisper-shout.

Susan smirks and shakes her head.

"Hey, guys."

Standish wakes up from his nap and he, Susan, and Ray all spring up out of their seats upon seeing Frankie.

"Hey," Susan hugged Frankie. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Thanks, Susan," Frankie assures her.

"What's Will's status?" Ray asks.

Frankie sighs. "Well, they said he seems to be ready to leave and the little loopy thing he had going on yesterday after surgery from the anesthesia wore off once he slept it off."

"Are you kidding me? I wanted to see Will all...high and stuff," Standish says, disappointed.

"I have videos, Standish," Frankie suggests.

Standish's eyes light up. "Send me those right now."

Frankie lightly rolls her eyes at him. "What's happened with Fiero?" She asks.

"Fiero was brought in for questioning and is being sent to a max security prison as we speak," Ray replies.

"And Jai?" She questions.

They all look around at each other and Susan's the one to speak. "He's, um...we don't know."

Frankie frowns. "What do you mean you 'don't know?'"

"He hasn't said much since he beat up Fiero," Ray clarifies.

"Yeah, what's up with that? Why was he acting so weird when Fiero came up?" Standish asks.

Frankie looks over to Standish and shakes her head. "There are some things about Jai which he can tell you about when he feels it's necessary or he's comfortable enough to, so don't go asking him about this."

"Too late," Standish replies.

"Standish. Listen to me." Frankie points her finger and waves it at Standish in an attempt to emphasize what she was about to say. "Do not, I repeat, do not ask him about Fiero or I swear to god I'll delete all your K-Pop songs form your computer."

Standish gasps. "You wouldn't."

"Watch me," Frankie challenges.

Standish's eyes light up again, only this time with fear, and he sighed. "Fine," he reluctantly agrees.

"Can we see Will?" Susan asks.

"He's being discharged soon, but the paperwork needs to be completed. We can get the forms for you to fill out, Susan."

"Okay." Susan and Frankie leave the waiting room and head over to the nurse's station.

Susan approaches the nurse sitting down. "Hi, we were told to get the discharge forms for our friend, Will Chase? I'm his emergency contact," She tells the nurse.

The nurse nods with a smile. "All right." She grabs a clipboard and hands a pen to Susan. "One second, I just need to see something quickly." She starts rapidly typing into the computer then looks back up once her fingers have stopped flying over the keyboard. "You would be...Francesca Trowbridge?"

Susan and Frankie both look at each other with the same surprised looks on their faces.

"W- what?" Frankie stammers.

"It says right here that Will Chase's emergency contact is Francesca Trowbridge," the nurse clarifies. "Is that not you?" She asks, directing her question at Susan.

"It's me," Frankie responds.

"Oh, well the change was done a while ago. It says here it happened a few months ago."

Frankie stands there completely dumbfounded and she gapes at the nurse as if she was an alien. 

"Okay, thank you," Susan says as she tugs on Frankie's arm so she'd leave.

They walked back to the waiting room area where Ray and Standish were sitting.

"Hey, did you get the forms?" Ray asks.

"Yes, but I don't know if I should be pissed at him," Susan replies.

"Woah why?" Standish asks.

Susan shakes her head. "He switched his emergency contact."

"What? To who?" Ray asks.

"Me," Frankie answers.

"WHAT?" Standish yells.

Susan shushes Standish with a strike to the back of his head.

He grabs the back of his head in pain. "Ow, sorry."

"Why did he change his emergency contact?" Ray asks.

"I...I don't know," Frankie replies. "I need to bring these up to his room. I'll be back later."

Frankie leaves the three of them and they sit back down.

Ray glances over to Susan who looks like she's thinking hard about something. He taps her on the shoulder. "Susan, are you-"

"Do you know why Will changed his emergency contact?" She blurts out.

Ray blinks in surprise. "Why do you care?" He asks with a small laugh.

"I don't," Susan denies.

Ray shrugs. "Okay, so don't worry about it, it's not a big deal."

Susan nods her head. They sit there in silence for a few seconds before Susan breaks it. "Not that I care or anything, but...I _am_ Will's best friend," Susan asserts.

"We know," Ray acknowledges. "It's not a big deal."

"I'm not his emergency contact anymore though," she huffs.

Standish laughs at her. "Are you jealous, Susan?"

"I'm his best friend!" she snapped, taking Standish aback by her sudden reaction.

"You're still _my_ emergency contact," Ray says, grinning.

Susan sighs. "Yeah, but that's not the same.

Ray scoffs and his mouth hangs open, offended by her comment.

Susan rolls her eyes at him. "Oh, you'll get over it," she says.

* * *

"Hey," Will says with a smile as Frankie enters his room.

"Hey," she responds.

Will couldn't help but admire how beautiful she looks. God, he is _so_ in love with her.

"So, I have the discharge forms here, they just need you to fill out a few things," she says as she hands him the forms.

He nods. "Great, thanks." He takes the clipboard from her but not without noticing her expression as he did. Something seems off.

He frowns. "Frankie, are you-"

"Why am I listed as your emergency contact?" She blurts out.

Will smirks.

"Why is that funny?" Frankie questions.

"No, nothing, it's not." He smiles. "You get cute when you're nervous."

Frankie subtly rolls her eyes. "Why did you make me your emergency contact?" She repeats. "The nurse said you did it a few months ago."

He shrugs. "I did it after Prague."

"You what?" She asks, confused.

"After the whole Prague fiasco, I thought it'd be good to change my contact from Susan to someone else," he clarifies.

"Why?"

He sighs. "Well, she'd gotten so scared about Ray, and now that they're together she shouldn't need to worry about me, so I decided I should take the burden of me off her shoulders." 

"Why me though?" 

He frowns. "Isn't it obvious?" He waits for her to answer then after a few seconds sighs. "I couldn't put my sister, otherwise she'd just call my parents, Jai is not an option because he hardly opens up to me, and Standish is like a literal child, he'd have no idea how to handle this situation. So...that leaves you."

She smiles mockingly at his answer. "Wow, how lucky am I. Last pick," she responds dryly.

"Actually you were always going to be my first pick," Will quickly corrects. "Those were just reasons as to why I wouldn't choose anyone else. Of course, I was going to pick you, I just thought you should understand the reasons why I wouldn't pick someone else."

Frankie smirks at how defensive he is getting so she'd know he picked her first.

She tilts her head. "So, why me?"

"What do you mean? I just answered that question," Will responds, confused.

"There are countless reasons why you _shouldn't_ pick me, so I want to know the reasons why you _should,"_ she clarifies.

Will draws in a long breath. "Let me see, where should I start? Hmm. Well, for starters, I trust you with my life." He says it like it was evident.

"Ooh, you wouldn't fuss over me being comfortable like Susan does."

Frankie smirks.

"I wouldn't have to worry about a nurse or the doctor not checking up on me when I'd be feeling any bit of pain because you'd have one examining me in five seconds."

The redness in Frankie's cheeks grew brighter each time he'd said something and she couldn't help but blush at all of his points.

"And...I'd want you right here with me if anything were to happen where I may need to say goodbye."

Frankie clenches her jaw and feels the tears begin to form in her eyes. That's exactly the type of situation yesterday seemed to be to her. 

Will shakes his head. "Hey," he took her hand in his. "I told you I don't plan on leaving you anytime soon and I intend on keeping that promise." He squeezes her hand and smiles.

Frankie's expression softens and she sniffles. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Frankie leans in to kiss him, but before their lips meet, they are interrupted by a voice near the doorway.

"I knew it!" Susan shakes her head and grins in pride at herself as she stands by the door.

"Susan," Frankie says, obviously annoyed she'd interrupted them.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. Ray sent me up here to tell you guys that Standish is getting restless, and he wants to go back to the hotel."

"I get shot, and _he's_ the one complaining?" Will remarks.

Susan shrugs with a small laugh. "It's Standish did you expect him to stay by your bedside?"

"No, that position's already been filled," Will responds with a smile.

Frankie lightly smacks his shoulder.

"Hey, hey, she knows." He gestures with his head towards Susan. "Why can't I say anything?"

"Because I don't want _her_ to think it's all right to talk about in the open," Frankie responds. "Got that, Susan?"

Susan nods her head with a smile.

"Why didn't Ray come up here to tell us about Standish himself?" Will asks.

Susan frowns. "Standish suddenly needed help with what to do about this girl he met while we were at the bar celebrating Ray and I getting engaged, so he said one of us needed to help him with replying to her and I was _not_ about to deal with that."

"The brunette from the bar?" Frankie questions. "He's like a two compared to her! How did he manage to get her number?"

"Trust me, we all want to know the answer to that question," Susan replies before squinting her eyes at Will. "I'm also going to need an answer as to why I'm no longer your emergency contact, Will," she adds.

Will and Frankie glance at each other before laughing at her. Her expression suggested she is furious at Will.

"Anyways, can you finish up with the paperwork here so we don't have to deal with Standish's whining anymore?" Susan asks. "Ray's starting to want to go back to the hotel too because of Standish's neediness."

"Yeah. You can leave now, Susan," Will responds.

Susan stands in the doorway for a moment before leaving and smiles. "Glad you two finally came to your senses."

Frankie rolls her eyes and Susan waves goodbye.

"If I do recall correctly, I believe we were in the middle of something?" Will says, leaning in for a kiss.

"Not anymore, we aren't," Frankie replies, backing away from him.

"What?" Will responds, disappointed.

Frankie shakes her head. "I don't want the whole team knowing about us just yet," She says.

"I understand that, but Standish and Ray are the only people who don't know," Will mentions.

"Half the team doesn't know, Will," she notes.

"What? No. Standish and Ray, that's only two."

"Jai doesn't know," she states.

"He totally does, are you kidding? If one of you entered the Drop and the other was already there, you'd know what the other person had for breakfast just by looking at each other."

"Jai does not know we're _together_ ," she clarifies. "And I would like to keep it that way for a while, so no. We aren't telling anyone," Frankie declares.

Will takes one look at her big green eyes and sighs. "All right, we won't tell them."

Frankie lets a small smile show and gives him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."

Will grins. "Now, give me those discharge forms, I want to go back to the hotel too," Will says.

"You sound like Standish," Frankie comments.

Will shrugs. "Would you want to be stuck in a hospital bed for a while?" He questions.

"No, I'd probably lose my mind," Frankie answers. "But I wouldn't if I knew you were there with me," she adds.

Her answer puts the biggest smile on Will's face and she hands him the discharge forms.

Frankie watches him as he fills out the forms. Simply observing his handwriting makes her smile. It's remarkably unique, yet so him. It isn't firm, messy, or extremely neat, it's just...Will.

Frankie remembers when she was younger her dad would talk about the different types of people and their handwriting. It's definitely clear in Will's handwriting as to who he was as a person. His letters are larger than most people would write yet they aren't so big that they'd quickly fill up a line which Frankie sees as a hint towards his inclination to be very people-oriented and his need to be heard.

Not only are they large, but they also slant—to the right to be precise. They slant the same way he tends to lean towards ruling his emotions into things, and he presses down with more pressure than normal, another indicator of his strong tendencies to always involve emotions and feel things quickly.

Will sure as hell feels things quicker than the average person does. He fell for _her_ quicker than he had with anyone else. They both know it.

She'd be lying if she said she didn't also start to feel a connection between them on their first mission.

He continues to gracefully fill out the forms in that handwriting Frankie couldn't seem to get over.

God, she's so in love with him, but it scares her. He needs to somehow understand that.

She bites her lip. "Same thing goes for me, Whiskey."

"What does?" He asks, looking up from the papers.

"I'm not leaving you anytime soon, and I don't plan on it."

Will squeezes her hand with a soft smile.

"If I'm ever in your situation, promise me you'll be by my side," Frankie says.

"You'd really want that?" Will questions as his eyes began to light up in excitement.

"As long as you don't try to make me watch romcoms with you as I helplessly sit in my hospital bed," she responds.

Will laughs. "You love those movies, don't deny it."

Frankie rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "Fill out those forms so we can get out of here."

He laughs.

"I'll text Susan we're almost done." She takes out her phone and begins typing.

Will goes back to quickly filling out the discharge papers then quietly catches a glance at Frankie once he finishes. He swiftly pulls her in for the kiss Susan had interrupted earlier, taking her by surprise.

Her eyes flutter open once their lips finally part and she grins. "Sneaky," she smirks as they press their foreheads together.

When Frankie straightens and no longer leaning over Will, she can see he's is beaming with pride.

"I'll smack that smug smile off your face if you don't wipe it off, Whiskey," she warns

Will laughs at her.

He always found her funny. Even their first encounter she'd managed to crack a smile from him, despite their burning hatred towards each other back then. Of course, now, he can't understand how he despised her back then.

She's perfect. Who could hate something perfect? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you all think of the chapter! I always say it, but I love getting feedback!


	16. Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team returns to the hotel from the hospital. Standish asks everyone for advice on his new situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I just wanted to apologize for the delay on this chapter. Things got a bit crazy last week and on top of all that, I've been trying to binge-watch Scandal before Netflix takes it off its service (which I think is cruel because Scandal is incredible, so I highly suggest you watch a few episodes before it's gone in the US). It also took a while to write this chapter because I like to write a few chapters ahead to prevent any confusion because when I didn't in the past, things don't flow as well/make too much sense. Please enjoy the new chapter and remember to stay indoors!

Will is being wheeled out of the elevator by a nurse with Frankie by his side when he sees the team waiting for them.

"Will! My man!" Standish exclaims.

The team all rushes over to him.

"Hey, Standish," Will replies.

Frankie looks at the nurse. "I can take it from here, thanks." She grabs the handles of Will's wheelchair and the nurse nods with a smile before heading off.

"Oh, it is so good to see you're doing well," Susan says as she goes to give Will a hug.

Will smiles. "I am happy to report I feel like I'm almost back to feeling 100 percent."

The team all cheers and smiles.

Out of nowhere, Standish abruptly takes Will's wheelchair from Frankie and rolls off out of the hospital as he says, "All right, let's move it!"

"Woah, Standish, you're going to make me crash into something," Will warns.

"Standish! Get back here!" Frankie calls out.

He doesn't listen and hurries off in the direction of the parking lot.

"Standish!" Frankie shouts again.

Susan glimpses over to Frankie and she can see the fear in her eyes. "Ray, do something, he's going to get them run over by a car!" Susan says.

Ray makes a quick decision and shouts, "If you don't stop I'll make sure you won't land a date with Maia!"

Standish immediately stops and waits for the team with Will at the crosswalk.

Frankie rushes over to him and snatches the handles of the wheelchair back from Standish. "You're so annoying."

Standish stays quiet.

"Is Maia that girl you were talking to at the bar?" Will asks him.

"Yes, I've been texting her all day and she wants to know if I want to go out with her next week, but I'm nervous this will turn out to be another Tina situation," Standish said.

Ray, Susan, and Jai join them and they all start to walk to the car.

"Standish, you know that's probably not true. What are the chances of her being a spy? You met her here in Hawaii," Will states.

"We met _Tina_ in _Bulgaria_! What if she turns out to be some drug lord of a massive cartel and we end up needing to take her down?" Standish begins to ramble. "Or she's on the FBI's most-wanted list? Or she's another mole Ollerman sent in? Or she's-"

"Or she's a normal woman who is actually interested in you."

They make it to the car and Standish and Jai climb into the third-row seats in the back. Frankie helps Will slide into the backseat before getting in herself, and Susan occupies the passenger's seat. Ray grabs Will's wheelchair from Frankie and quickly runs back to the hospital entrance to return it.

"Listen, Standish, I'm sure she's genuinely interested in you, so if I were you, I'd be worrying more about what I'd wear to the date rather than if she's a drug lord," Will assures him.

Ray returns and gets into the driver's seat before pulling the car out of the parking space and they make their way back to the hotel.

Frankie looks back at Standish. "Hey, do you have a pic of Maia?"

"She has tons of pictures of herself on her Instagram," Standish replies before pulling up her account on his Instagram.

Frankie takes his phone from him and unbuckles her seatbelt so she can lean forward to the passenger's seat where Susan is. She whispers to Susan about the picture and they both begin giggling, prompting Standish to grow upset.

"Hey, hey, what are you saying about my woman?" Standish questions, defensively.

Frankie leans back and buckles her seatbelt again.

"One, never claim her as 'your woman' ever again," she smirks, "and two, she's a literal ten and you're a two."

Standish snatches his phone from Frankie's hands. "Hey! I'm not that bad am I?" He asks, directing his question at Will.

Frankie quickly interjects. "You're a five at best when you can clean up and control your words."

Will frowns at her and shakes his head. "Hey, that's not a good thing to say," he says. He looks back at Standish. "You're a five when you don't say everything on your mind and choose your clothing choices wisely," Will says.

Standish squints at them. "Okay, you two have this annoying thing where you guys will say the same hurtful thing, but Will just repeats it in a less hurtful way, so Imma need y'all to stop that and actually help me out here." He leans closer to Frankie. "What should I reply to her text?"

Frankie looks forward in her seat and shakes her head. "Nope, don't rope me into your relationship issues."

"Oh, c'mon Frankie! I need some female input!" Standish whines. "Susan?" He calls out from the back.

Susan looks over to Ray and he quickly glances at her with a small shrug.

She sighs and reluctantly agrees. "Fine."

"Yes!" Standish exclaims. "Okay, she just texted me that she heard of this new place where you can go ax throwing and wants us to go next week for our date."

"Axe throwing? That's a bold move for a first date. She sounds way cooler than you already, let me see your phone," Frankie answers.

Standish scowled at Frankie. "Hey, I thought you didn't want in on this," he says.

"Changed my mind." Frankie grabs his phone from his hands once again before he could do anything about it 

Will smirks at her.

"What do you wear to axe throwing? Do I wear something to make me look more masculine so she'll think I know what I'm doing?"

"No," Ray, Susan, and Jai reply in unison

Standish grimaces. "I already have Will and Frankie teaming up on me, I don't need y'all to do that too."

Will and Frankie smirk at each other.

"Hey, just so you know, you completely bombing a date with this girl is totally worth me losing our bet," Jai comments.

They get to a stoplight and Ray looks back. "Maybe you should sing her one of your songs. That'll really turn her on," he says, getting a laugh out of everyone except Standish.

"All right, enough!" Standish roars in the most earnest voice any one's ever heard come out of him.

The car goes dead silent.

Standish sighs. "Listen. I've only been texting with this girl for a short time, but I can already tell...she's different. Tina, yeah, she might've been special at the time, but I know Maia's not like Tina. Just the way she talks in her texts makes me happy, and I know she's out of my league, but for some reason, she's actually talking to me. So please, can y'all just help me so I don't end up screwing this up?" With the most earnest expression on his face, he looks over to Will for an answer which he knows will come out of him first.

To Standish's surprise, however, Frankie is the one to speak up. "Standish, you really like this girl, don't you?"

He nods shyly.

"Standish...you're in love!" Will says with a hand on his heart.

Standish's eyes grow wide. "What? No! I- When- Who said that?" He nervously rambles on.

Ray and Susan laugh from the front as Standish's voice gets an octave higher with each word he says.

Will smiles at Standish. "Hey, hey, it's okay to admit you're in love. Love is a beautiful thing and anyone who finds it is extremely lucky." He looks over to Frankie when he finishes speaking and she rolls her eyes. She knows exactly what he is alluding to, prompting a small smirk from him.

"Standish, you haven't been lying about yourself, have you?" Susan asks. "If you really want to make this work, you just need to be yourself."

"No, I haven't. She actually finds me funny," Standish answers.

Frankie scoffs with an eye-roll.

"I'm hilarious, don't deny it," Standish comments in response to her reaction.

Frankie shrugs.

"We're here," Ray announces as they pull into the hotel entrance.

Ray gets out of the car and goes to help Will.

"Thanks, Ray, I got it," Will says as Ray offers him his arm for support.

"You sure?" Ray questions.

Will nods.

Ray smiles at him and goes to give the keys to the valet guy.

Will and Frankie exit out of the car, followed by Jai and Standish.

"Okay, I think we can all agree that we need to relax for once," Susan announces as she shuts the car door to the passenger's seat.

"Agreed," Frankie says with a sigh.

Ray hands off the keys to the valet worker and they all begin to make their way toward the elevators. 

"Do you guys want to meet up at the beach? It's only 9 a.m., so it won't be too crowded," Susan suggests.

Standish and Ray both say it sounds like a good idea. Jai heads off, saying he needs coffee. Frankie says she thinks she and Will should stay back in their hotel room.

"I think it's best if Will and I stay back. He should rest," Frankie says as they enter the elevator.

Will frowns. "I can handle the beach, it's no big deal," he says.

She shoots him a look and says, "Your stitches can't get wet otherwise you're more at risk of getting an infection," she adds.

He shrugs. "Yeah, but I could just stay out of the ocean."

She gives him another look, this time it's saying, _Really, Will?_

"We need to go back up to the room so we can _relax_ ," she says again.

"I can sit on a beach chair, no big deal."

She subtly rolls her eyes at how oblivious he is. "Will, you should go to the hotel room to _rest_."

The lightbulb above his head goes off and he gets what kind of rest she's _really_ talking about.

"Ohh," he says out loud, once the realization hits him. He quickly switches his tone though. "Ohhh," he says this time with more 'pain' in his voice as one of his hands is rubbing his abdomen. "Yeah, now that I think about it, maybe I shouldn't risk getting my sutures all dirty," he announces as the elevator arrives at his and Frankie's floor.

Will and Frankie exit the elevator and look back before the doors shut.

"You go ahead, have fun without us," Will tells them.

Ray and Susan glance at each other with smirks, giving it away to Frankie that Ray knows. Standish frowns.

"Why can't Frankie come? Will can protect himself," he protests.

Susan rolls her eyes. "Someone should be with him, it's safer," she responds.

Standish shrugs. "Whatever, your loss," he says as he presses the close door button to the elevator. He's so oblivious to what's happening. He gets it from _Will_.

When the doors close, Frankie and Will practically sprint down the hall to their suite. Frankie struggles with the keycard for a bit before she gets it to work and swings the door open. They rush inside and Will, anxious to touch Frankie like a teenager, shuts the door when Frankie is pushed against it.

She laughs wickedly.

He leads his lips down her jaw and to her neck.

"Will," she warns.

"What?" He says, her skin still hot as his mouth lingers on her neck. "Are you scared mom and dad will see you've got a hickey?" He teases playfully.

She rolls her eyes. "I'm scared of our kid seeing it," she retorts.

Will can't help but imagine Standish's reaction, so he laughs.

Frankie lifts his chin with a finger to bring his lips back up to hers. They make out in this position for a while until they're making out and Will's carrying her into their bedroom.

He drops her on the bed so he's over her.

"Take off your clothes," he whispers into her ear.

A shiver runs down her spine when he whispers in her ear.

It's not the first time it's happened.

Her mind instantly goes back to the night they'd decided to share the bed for the first time. The night he told her he gets her. The night that was all she needed for the feelings she'd thought she'd successfully buried since Prague to come flooding back. 

She undresses quickly and is caught off guard when Will pushes her back against the bed once she's got all her clothes off. She laughs when he begins to kiss her below her jaw.

"God, I love that laugh," Will says with his face buried in her neck.

Frankie brings his lips up to hers but doesn't kiss him. "Don't make me wait any longer," she says in a low voice.

He kisses her once more before his lips have made their way down to her navel. He lingers where he is, breathing heavily against her skin, and managing to fill her with fiery pleasure. 

"Will," she whines.

He moves down to where she wants him. She arches her back off the bed and fists the sheets. He presses himself into her more, causing her to grab him by his hair and shut her eyes.

Will is _way_ too good at this. His looks and personality are so deceiving, you'd never guess an eagle scout like him would be able to do these things. But he can. And he does it _so_ well. The first time they'd had sex, Frankie wasn't expecting him to be so insanely amazing, but during their second time, she already couldn't wait to do it again.

She's on the brink of climaxing when Will suddenly stops. She frowns and opens her eyes to see he's now positioning himself above her. He slides into her. Frankie's breath hitches and she moans. He pins her arms down and falls into a slow, and gentle rhythm.

"Fuck," he hisses into her neck.

She bites her lip and the orgasm which had gone moments before returns. His thumb moves down and she can't help but cry out in satisfaction.

"Francesca," he breathes.

Will picks up his pace and Frankie's fingers intertwine with his while her arms remain pinned down. She tightens her grip on his hands to help brace herself and calls out his name, driving him wild. He's _so_ good at this. 

She kisses him while he keeps his rhythm. "Take me, Whiskey," she whispers against his lips.

He stops keeping a steady pace and begins snapping forward. Frankie's moans get louder. Will's nervous he's going to have to tell her to be quiet.

With one final thrust into her, he gets their releases to happen at the same time.

They're both panting heavily. She's smiling and Will can't help but chuckle. _We really just did that again._

He lets her arms go free and she wraps them around him. He leans down for a kiss and she laughs.

"Impressive for someone who's just been shot," she comments.

Will grins. "Pretty sexy too, right?"

She rolls her eyes.

"Admit it. I know you think so."

"Maybe a little." She pulls his lips toward hers.

"They're all going to know tomorrow," Will tells her.

Frankie lifts her brow because she's curious. "Oh, yeah? How?"

"They'll see the new addition front and center on your neck," he points out with a laugh.

"You didn't," she warns.

He smirks. "Try me, boo."

She slaps his shoulder. He laughs and rolls over to her right.

She rests her head on his chest and lets herself listen to his heartbeat in his chest. It's soothing. 

"I love you so damn much," he says.

She sighs heavily and glances up at him. "I love you, too," she whispers.

It still baffles Frankie how easily she can say those words. _I love you_. A few months ago she might have _known_ it, but this time, knowing it isn't enough, she needs to say it. It's all because of him. He's changed her into a somewhat caring being and part of her wants to be annoyed, but another part of her stops her from it because she can't imagine who she'd be today if it wasn't for him.

He frowns, making Frankie feel self-conscious and she isn't sure what he's about to say.

"Hey, do you feel a draft?" He asks.

She furrows her brows at him and looks over to the window. She laughs and unwinds at his question. "Is one of the windows open or something?" She asks sarcastically while staring at the shattered window from the night of the attack.

"Seems like it," he replies.

She smiles and sighs against his chest. "It's all right. I've got you to keep me warm."

He pulls her closer and breathes in her scent. It fills him with happiness. He's playing with her hair as her head rests on his chest and the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore can be heard from outside. He could stay like this forever.

The phone rings.

Will groans. He shakes his head and raises a brow at her. "We're never going to get away them, are we?" 

She laughs. "Not a chance."

He gets out of bed to retrieve his phone and Frankie shivers when his skin is no longer pressed against hers. He checks in his coat pocket for his phone and realizes the ringing isn't coming from his, but it's coming from Frankie's. He wanders over to her heap of clothes and pulls her phone out of her jeans pocket.

"Susan?"

Will can hear her chuckling on the other end. "I thought you were supposed to be resting," she comments, teasingly.

He glances over to Frankie who's tempting him to get back in bed. "What's up?" He replies instead, ignoring her comment.

"What's up with _you_?" She mocks.

He rolls his eyes. "Oh my god."

Frankie pats his empty spot with a pout.

Will grins and moves back over to the bed. He fills the empty spot and his arm finds its way around her waist.

He puts Susan on speaker. "Frankie's listening with me," he tells her.

"You guys should really get down here."

Frankie frowns. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"You'll never guess what Standish is doing right now." The phone chimes and a text from Susan pops up.

Will lifts the phone so they can get a better view of the screen and he opens the message from her.

Frankie snatches the phone. "Oh my god," she comments.

It's a picture of Standish and Maia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked it! Please leave some comments because (I always say this) I love to hear your thoughts and feedback!


	17. Surprised

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will and Frankie go down to the beach to see Standish's situation for themselves. Frankie comes to a realization about something she'd been ignoring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Hope you're all holding up well in quarantine. This chapter is a bit rushed, so please forgive me if it's confusing at times, but I wanted to give you another chapter today like I'd promised when I said I'd be posting every Wednesday. This chapter is somewhat chill? I don't know, you guys can be the judge of that haha. Anyways, enjoy!

Frankie and Will are in the elevator within five minutes of Susan ending their call after Frankie insists they need to go down to the beach to see Standish for themselves.

"No matter how many times you press it, the doors won't shut any quicker," Will says with a laugh as he watches Frankie anxiously press the elevator button to the lobby.

She shakes her head. "What do you mean? I can't miss Standish humiliating himself!" Frankie replies.

Will bites his lip. "Our baby boy's all grown up," he comments while being sappy about it.

Frankie lightly rolls her eyes but still has a smile on her face.

They reach the lobby and Frankie tugs his hand as she runs through the lobby towards the exit which leads out to the beach.

"Hey, slow down, Frankie," he warns.

She ignores him, pulling him with her by the arm.

He's constantly apologizing to all the people who Frankie nearly shoves as they make their way to the beach.

"Sorry. So sorry. Please don't mind us, we're sorry." He waves an apologetic hand and smiles at everyone he passes with each "Sorry."

Frankie groans. "Would you stop apologizing to everyone?"

"It's called being polite, Frankie," he reminds her. "Also, control your beach bag, you're going to take someone out with it."

She continues weaving through people and they're at the beach faster than Will realizes. Frankie's looking around frantically for Susan and Ray, but can't find them.

"C'mon, they have to be this way," she says to Will. "The picture was taken from that angle."

Will sighs and follows Frankie as they run down the beach in an attempt to find Susan and Ray.

"You passed us!" Susan yells out to them.

Frankie does a full 180 and sprints over to Susan and Ray.

Will puffs out his cheeks. "She never runs this fast on missions," he says to himself.

"Where, where, where!?" Frankie demands. She lets her bag fall onto the sand.

Susan gestures near the ocean and Frankie's head darts towards it.

Standish and Maia are doing something near the shore.

"How long have they been talking for?"

Ray shrugs, "Maybe half an hour?"

"They've been talking for half an hour and no one thought of even telling me?" Frankie asks, offended.

Susan smirks. "We knew you were busy with something else."

Frankie rolls her eyes and huffs. "How did they start talking?"

"She was walking by us and said hi to Standish," Ray answers. "Apparently her best friend's ex-boyfriend flew all the way out here to win the best friend back, so now she's been doing stuff on her own. Some kind of best friend if you ask me."

Susan and Frankie stare at Ray. Their expressions scream _You're one to talk._

Ray clears his throat. "Anyways, they started talking and then ended up down there."

Will arrives and glances over to the thing Frankie seems to be watching so intently.

"Hey, what'd I miss?" He asks.

"What took you so long to catch up?" Frankie questions.

"I was helping a kid out with her sandcastle, it fell over..." Will's voice dies out.

The team's expressions all change while watching Standish and Maia.

"What's he...doing?" Will frowns in confusion at what he's seeing.

Standish is swinging his arms around like a deranged person while he's lying flat on his stomach on what appears to be a surfboard.

Susan squints. "This hurts to watch, yet..."

Frankie and Susan tilt their heads.

"...I can't look away."

Ray's brows furrow as he stares. "I want to say he's showing her how to surf, but..."

Standish abruptly springs up on the surfboard and his arms go in opposite directions while his knees bend more than they should.

"...yeah, that's not surfing," Ray finishes.

"It looks more like he's trying to take a dump on the beach," Frankie comments.

They all nod in agreement.

Frankie jerks her head backward and frowns. "She's laughing. Did he do something dumb? Did I miss something?"

"No, he said something," Ray answers. "I think he made a joke."

Frankie scoffs. "Changed my mind, she's not a ten, she's like an eight and a half for thinking Standish is funny."

"C'mon, cut him some slack. Let's see how this goes," Susan says.

Maia is trying to surf on her board and Standish is saying something to her.

"What's he doing? He doesn't even know how to surf," Ray says.

"He's lying. That's what he's doing." Susan sighs defeatedly. "It's what he does best."

They watch Standish lift his board and Maia grabs hers.

"Oh, Oh! they're going into the water," Ray announces.

"Now _this_ will be good," Frankie says.

Susan straightens in her chair. "Wait. He still has his stitches in. He'll get an infection if he goes into the water."

"Just let him go," Frankie responds.

Susan glares her eyes at her. "Frankie," she chides.

Frankie turns to Susan and shrugs. "C'mon, he'll be fine, we're spies."

Susan fixes her eyes on Frankie.

"Stop staring at me like that, it's creepy."

She holds her gaze.

"Ugh, fine," Frankie groans.

Will's ready to run after Standish, but Frankie stops him.

"You're not going, Captain America. Remember, you have stitches too," she reminds him.

Susan pats Ray on the shoulder. "You tell Standish," she advises.

Ray groans and grudgingly rises from his chair. Frankie immediately steals it.

"Hey, that's my chair!"

"I don't see a name."

Ray huffs and speeds off to retrieve Standish. 

Susan looks Will up and down. She starts chuckling. "Will, you're glowing."

He frowns. "What?"

She glances at Frankie and smirks. "You certainly had something to do with it."

"You're so annoying," Frankie responds.

Susan grins pleasantly at herself the same way she did in the hospital room.

"Hey, Frankie-"

"Say another thing about it and I'll break Ray's arm," Frankie threatens.

"But, Franks-"

"Let it go, Susan."

Susan shrugs. "Suit yourself, I tried to warn you."

They're interrupted by the sound of Ray's voice.

"Standish, c'mon, don't be like that!"

Standish stomping over to them and his arms are crossed. It mirrors an upset kid.

"How was your surf lesson?" Will asks once Standish makes it back.

Standish grimaces. "It was going great until Mr. Cautious told me I can't go into the water because of my stitches." He pouts. "I'm a spy! I've surely done more dangerous things than going into the water."

"That's what I said," Frankie murmurs.

Susan rolls her eyes at Frankie. "Do you want an infection?" She asks.

"If it means I can hang out with Maia," he argues.

"How adorable," Susan responds dryly.

Standish rolls his eyes. "I thought you two weren't coming to the beach," he says to Will and Frankie.

"We changed our minds. We wanted to hang with you guys," Will answers.

Standish smiles. "Aw, I'm touched y'all would do that."

"And we needed to be here when you humiliated yourself in front of Maia," Frankie adds.

His smile disappears and he isn't amused. "I'll have you know that she finds me hilar- IS THAT A HICKEY?" Standish's eyes go wide.

"Huh? Where?" She subtly glares at Will who is trying not to smile.

"Right there!" He points to her neck which she swiftly covers with a hand.

Susan chuckles to herself quietly and Frankie immediately turns to her. Susan shrugs it off, and Frankie replays Susan's words in her mind. _I tried to warn you_.

Frankie isn't amused. Susan certainly is.

"Oh, it's probably from my night with Daniel earlier this week," she responds.

He sighs in relief. "Oh, okay. I thought for a second you and Will...," his nose crinkles,"...did it."

Frankie scoffs. "Please. I'd never."

"Oh, really?" Will questions.

"Keep it in your pants, Whiskey," she replies.

Will smirks.

"Standish, I thought you said you weren't going to lie this time," Susan says.

He frowns. "What do you mean? I didn't lie."

"You were showing Maia how to surf. You don't know how to surf."

"What?" He smirks. "Maia was teaching _me_ how to surf."

Susan's brows raise and the team looks around at each other in surprise.

"Oh." She smiles. "Then I'm very proud of you Standish."

Standish grins. He's proud of himself.

"Thanks." He sighs. "I feel bad though, I left Maia alone, now she has no one to hang out with."

"I'm sure she'll be fine. She'll probs meet another dude who she can surf with," Frankie comments.

Standish squints. "She wouldn't, she likes _me_."

Frankie shrugs. "You never know."

"Enough, Frankie," Will says.

Frankie grins at herself.

Ray clicks his tongue. "Hey, speaking of being alone, does anyone know where Jai is?"

"Have you tried the coffee stand?" Standish suggests as a joke.

Frankie's brows snap together and a look of concern overcomes her face. "No one's seen Jai in the past hour?" She questions.

They all shake their heads.

She closes her eyes and sighs. "Shit," she whispers. "Is he actually at the coffee stand, Standish?"

He shrugs. "I don't know, he said he needed coffee earlier."

"Do you want us to help you find him?" Will offers.

"No, I need to do this by myself. You all stay here." She says goodbye and makes her way back to the hotel building.

Will goes after her once she's away from the team and puts a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Wait. I lied to you earlier."

Frankie turns to him. "What?"

"That whole helping a kid with their sandcastle thing, it was a lie—well, not technically, I did stop to help the kid. But I also called the restaurant we passed by in the hotel that you mentioned earlier this week for reservations and I was going to surprise you. I thought it could be just the two of us tonight."

Frankie sighs. "Oh."

"If you don't make it back I get it, it's totally fine. I could probably reschedule the reservat-"

He's cut off when Frankie's lips are pressed against his. He's surprised she's kissing him in public considering she doesn't usually do PDA.

She presses her forehead to his. "If I'm not back in time, I'll make it up to you." She leans back and raises a brow. "Deal?"

He smiles and gestures his head. "Go."

Frankie touches her hand to his cheek and gives him a look. He kisses her hand and nods.

She smiles and says goodbye.

Frankie prays to herself Jai is at the coffee stand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, please make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments! I love getting feedback from you guys!


	18. Aren't You Tired?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jai takes in the events of a few nights ago and reflects back on what got him to where he is now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys I am so sorry this chapter took so long to post! I kept pushing it back because I had so many different things to do throughout the week and I had zero time to work on this chapter, and then my work was deleted ugh. But luckily, I was able to rewrite it and now I'm posting it ahh!
> 
> So this chapter will be a bit different. It's the longest chapter I've ever written, so buckle up everyone. Also, the first scene will start in this chapter and end in the next chapter, and if you're confused as to what I mean, you'll understand once you finish the chapter.
> 
> Can we take a moment to realize that the finale for Whiskey aired one year ago, today??? Where does the time go? I miss our spies :(
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!

Frankie allows herself to let out a sigh of relief when she makes it to the coffee stand. She walks over to the empty seat across from him and sits down.

She lets him speak first before saying anything.

"You want to know something? This is the best coffee I've ever had. How do people go without coffee? Whoever invented coffee is a genius. I wish I could've met them. Wow, you should really try some-"

"Jai," she cuts in.

He stops. Frankie gives him a look and he lowers his iced coffee.

"Are you all right?" She asks.

"Yes."

She glares at him and raises her brows. "Jai," she warns.

He sighs. "No."

She reaches out across the table to holds his hand. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He furrows his brows at her. "You sound like Will," he points out.

She rolls her eyes. "I know I hate it."

He lets a small grin show on his face, but it quickly fades.

Frankie waits him out. She knows he's going to talk, but she won't push him. They don't do that to each other.

He taps his foot under the table as he thinks to himself. When Jai taps his foot, Frankie can always tell how he's going to respond.

Different speeds mean different reactions.

Casually tapping his foot at a leisurely pace means he's thinking about something simple which doesn't usually require much thought to be said.

When his foot is tapping at a moderate pace it means he's trying to think of a solution—usually to how he can improve his gadgets and what types they'll be needing for missions. His words always end up being very well thought out and he says it's because if they aren't, people will die.

A hurried pace always happens in situations where he's put under pressure and is required to think of something quickly. He always says things while only being 80 percent sure about his answers.

But none of those describe what's happening now. His foot taps are each around 7 seconds apart and he's alternating which foot he uses with each tap, which only means one thing. He can't think of anything to say.

She waits with him. Letting him take all the time he needs before he decides to speak up.

"It was tough," he whispers.

Frankie nods. "I know."

"I wanted to kill him when we saw him the other day, but we had to get Will and Standish to the paramedics."

She squeezes his hand.

"I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise," he whispers.

Frankie sighs from his response because it breaks her heart. If they weren't in public she'd hug him right away.

She shakes her head. "You couldn't have prevented any of this Jai. Don't blame yourself."

"I should have finished him when I had the chance."

* * *

_SIX YEARS AGO_

_"Agent Datta, thank you for coming into my office today."_

_"Of course, Director Perry."_

_Perry gestures towards the chair with his hand. "Please, have a seat."_

_Jai nods and sits across from him at his desk._

_"Agent Datta. First off, I'd just like to say I believe you've done exceptional things in your past few years here at the CIA. You've proven yourself to be an extraordinary operative, one of the best if I must say so myself."_

_"Thank you, sir."_

_"You're very welcome." He sighs. "Now, with that being said, I've asked you to my office today because I have a new assignment for you."_

_Director Perry turns on his computer screen to reveal a picture of a silver device._

_"Recently, my colleagues and I have discussed how our agents handle taking down large organizations. Although the many methods used are effective, we believe there is an easier way which can lessen the number of casualties in trying to take groups down."_

_"What way would that be, sir?"_

_"Stun gas," he answers. "I'd like for you to design the new device our agents can use to take out large groups before shots need to be fired."_

_"You want me to create a device that distributes stun gas?"_

_"Yes and no."_

_Jai frowns._

_He hands Jai the same device seen on the picture and Jai studies it._

_"We'd like for this device to be able to deploy other gases besides stun gas in case it is necessary."_

_"But sir, aren't there already devices that distribute gas?"_

_"Yes, however, they don't always do the trick. The devices which do exist now are sometimes effective, but not always. You'll need to create a new system which is more efficient, and more reliable than the one we have now. I know you're extremely capable of doing this, which is why I've personally selected you for the assignment."_

_"Thank you, sir."_

_"I'd like for this to be complete in three months at most. If we wait any longer I believe the current system will only become less beneficial."_

_"I'll do it, sir."_

_Director Perry nods and politely smiles. "I'm glad to hear that. I'll send you more information after this meeting and you can take it from there. Thank you, Agent."_

_Jai gets out of his chair and shakes his hand._

_He goes to leave his office but is stopped._

_"Agent."_

_He turns back to Director Perry._

_"Yes, sir?"_

_"Please, keep this under wraps. We don't want this information to get into the wrong hands."_

_"Of course, sir."_

_"Thank you, agent."_

_He leaves his office._

* * *

_Jai heads straight to his apartment once the meeting is over._

_He heads to the room hidden in the back of his apartment and opens his laptop. He opens an email sent to him by Director Perry, of all the information he'll be needing from the CIA to create his new system._

_Files containing the blueprints of the current system are the first thing he clicks on from the email. He takes notes as he surveys the photos which pop up on his screen, observing the flaws and things he sees he can improve._

_His phone buzzes, startling him a bit because he was studying the blueprints so intently._

_"Hi, mother."_

_"Hi, Jai. I was just calling to check up on you."_

_"I'm fine."_

_There's a pause. "Are you eating?"_

_He groans. "Yes, mother."_

_"Are you sure? Do you want your father and me to make a visit?" Her reaction is more of a recommendation than a question._

_"No, maybe another time. I've got a lot of work to do."_

_"I could make you my butter chicken," she suggests,_

_Jai is tempted to take her up on her offer, but he shakes the thought away. "Sorry, mother. I'm too busy right now. In a few months maybe you and father can come to visit," he tells her._

_He hears her sigh. "All right, I guess we'll have to visit you another time. "_

_"How about my birthday?"_

_"That's not for another two and a half months!"_

_"Hey, either that or you won't know the next time you can see me."_

_"Okay then, it's settled. Your father and I will come and visit you on your birthday."_

_"Sounds good. Goodbye."_

_"Bye, Jai."_

_He hangs up the phone and goes back to studying blueprints._

* * *

_A week passes since Director Perry has appointed Jai as the creator of the CIA's new gas device design._

_For the past three days, Jai has gotten a total of 14 seven hours of sleep because he's constantly thinking of how to improve the device._

_He's noticed a few things about the device._

_One, the current system deploys a decent amount of gas, but it isn't enough to take out people, it only makes them feel lightheaded, and he keeps in mind that his design must deploy more._

_Two, even if the right amount of gas to take a group of people out is distributed, the type of gas deployed isn't strong enough, so he plans on creating a new type of gas._

_Three, the current build of the device is somewhat difficult to understand for first-time users and Director Perry has requested it be so simple to use, his ten-year-old son could figure it out._

_Once his first design of the new system is planned out, he heads out the next day for supplies to begin creating prototypes for his new design._

_Jai is notoriously meticulous when it comes to anything. Anyone who knows him knows he doesn't make mistakes. But if he does happen to make one, he'll beat himself up about it. So naturally, it was hard finding a place where he felt the supplies he was buying are worthy enough to be the material he uses his gadgets._

_His favorite hardware shop is what he likes to call a hidden gem. He knows the owners fairly well by now and he could most definitely navigate his way through the store with his eyes closed because he's been here so many times._

_Jai walks into the store and takes in the smell because it's comforting._

_"Hi, Jai," the man at the front greets._

_He smiles politely with a nod and heads for the back to find screws and nails._

_When he gets to the shelves lined with them, he has his hands on the last box of small screws, but a man snatches them off the shelf from him._

_Jai glares over to him. "Um, sir. I don't know if you saw, but those are **my** screws. Can I have them back?"_

_"Why should you?"_

_Jai scoffs as he's taken aback by his rudeness. "I need those screws. I have an important project for my job I need to work on."_

_"I know what you can work on," the man mumbles loud enough so Jai hears him._

_"And what would that be, exactly?" Jai challenges._

_"Getting a plane ticket back to your country," he says._

_Jai blinks in shock. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?"_

_"You heard me. Go back to your country, you piece of shit."_

_Jai's ready to punch this man, but he doesn't because he considers how it'd affect his relationship with the shop owners if he did._

_He's brought out of his thinking by a voice._

_"Sir, what gives you the right to talk to this man like that?"_

_Jai looks over to see a man frowning at the guy who'd just insulted him._

_"What's it to you?" The guy asks._

_"You wouldn't say that to me and I'm not from here."_

_Jai notices he has an accent. It sounds Italian._

_"Get lost, asshole," the guy says in response._

_The Italian man punches him right across his face, taking the guy by surprise. He groans in pain as his hand rubs his left cheek._

_"Sorry, didn't hear what you said. Do you want to repeat it?" The Italian man says._

_The guy stares at him, then over to Jai, and back at him. He huffs and leaves the box of screws on the shelf before storming away._

_"Hey, thanks, but I would've been fine on my own. Trust me," Jai says to the Italian dude._

_"If there's one thing I hate most in this world, it's people like him. You can just tell he doesn't give a shit about others," the man replies._

_Jai nods in agreement."I'm Jai."_

_The man extends a hand and grins. "Fiero."_

* * *

_The phone rings as Jai is securing the final piece in his first prototype for the gas device._

_He answers the phone and keeps it between his shoulder and his cheek. "Hello?"_

_"Hey, Jai. It's Fiero."_

_Jai puts down his tools. "Oh, hey, man."_

_"Hey. You still want to meet up today?"_

_Jai glimpses around at his workspace and knows he shouldn't say yes because he needs to test his ._

_"Yeah, sure. I'll meet you there," he answers._

_"Cool. See you later."_

_Jai hangs up the phone and shakes his head. He sighs. "This can wait."_

_He gets up from his work station and heads out the door._

* * *

_Jai is grinning ear to ear. "Hey, man. I told you I was a great shot."_

_Fiero laughs and nods. "Shouldn't have been so cocky."_

_"So that makes the score-"_

_"Pfft, who's keeping score? Let's forget the score."_

_Jai arches his brow. "Well, I am, and I'm winning."_

_"I wouldn't have suggested we hang out at a gun range if I knew I'd lose in target practice," Fiero huffs._

_Jai shrugs._

_"So, how long have you been working at the CIA?" Fiero asks._

_"Not too long. Maybe a few years," Jai replies. "How about you?"_

_"I was recruited three months ago. It's a pretty cool first job to have in the United States."_

_Jai agrees._

_They leave the gun range and head out to the parking lot._

_"Hey, I'm hungry, want to grab something?" Fiero suggests._

_Jai checks his watch. He's got some time._

_"Yeah, sure," Jai says. "Where do you want to go eat?"_

_"I found this incredible Italian place. It's super authentic and makes me feel at home," Fiero recommends._

_Jai nods._

* * *

_One month into his assignment, Jai is starting to get frustrated with himself._

_He's onto his fifth prototype and can't seem to figure out how to enhance the speed at which the gas is deployed._

_When he looks over his blueprints and his head starts to hurt, he's ready to call it quits and tell Director Perry he can't do it._

_The phone rings._

_"Hey, Fiero," Jai says tiredly._

_"You okay, man?" He immediately asks._

_Jai sighs. "I'm just exhausted. I've been working on a project that I can't seem to figure out."_

_"Want me to bring some beers over to your place?" He suggests. "Take a break, you probably need it."_

_Jai grins. "Yeah, I could use a drink."_

_"Be there in twenty."_

_Jai hangs up the phone._

* * *

_"Brought your favorite brand," Fiero says while holding up a six-pack of beers._

_Jai smirks and lets him into his apartment._

_They sit on Jai's couch and Fiero hands him a beer._

_"Thanks," Jai says, taking the beer from him._

_"So, what's this project?" Fiero asks._

_"I don't want to talk about it."_

_Fiero frowns. "You don't want to talk about it or you can't talk about it?"_

_Jai rolls his eyes and smiles. "Can't. You caught me."_

_Fiero laughs. "Knew it."_

_Jai takes a sip from his beer. "By the way, how'd your date go the other night?"_

_"Really good, she's amazing."_

_"Second date?" Jai asks._

_"For sure," Fiero replies._

_Jai's phone rings._

_He sees it's his mom calling._

_"Oh, I got to take this."_

_"Yeah, go ahead," Fiero says._

_Jai gets up from the couch and goes to his bedroom to take the call._

_"Hi, mother."_

_"We booked our flight today!" She says excitedly._

_"Oh, really? That's great!" He replies._

_"How's it going? Anything new happening?" She asks him._

_"Nothing much. I'm just with Fiero right now."_

_"Tell him I say hi! When can your father and I meet him? It seems like you two have gotten very close over the past month."_

_She's right. Jai and Fiero have definitely become the other's go-to person when they want to talk or do something, but he won't admit Jai considers themselves as best friends. "I will. We've definitely become better acquainted with each other, yes."_

_His mom scoffs. "Jai, would you quit being so stiff? Just say you're friends."_

_"Never."_

_His mom laughs and he smiles. He loves whenever he has a chance to make his mom happy._

_"I have to go, but I'll talk to you soon. Bye, I love you," Jai says._

_"Goodbye, Jai. I love you."_

_Jai hangs up the phone and goes back out to Fiero who is on his phone in the living room._

_"Sorry, it was my mom," Jai says._

_Fiero shakes his head. "No worries. Family always comes first."_

_Jai agrees with him._

* * *

_Two months pass since Jai was given his assignment. He has made four more prototypes since the previous month, and he's **this** close to figuring out the most efficient way his device can work._

_Director Perry has scheduled with Jai the meeting where he will present his final product. Jai can't get his words out of his head went they scheduled the meeting over the phone._

_**I'm sure you won't let me down, agent.** _

_That one sentence terrifies him. Everything has to be perfect otherwise Jai will never forgive himself._

_It's early in the morning and Jai is finishing up his newest prototype when Fiero texts him._

_He places the prototype down and checks his phone._

_**Hey, you want to meet her tonight?** _

_Jai raises his brows at the text. He wasn't expecting to meet Fiero's new girlfriend so soon, they've been dating for a month._

_**Yeah,** **sure** , Jai replies. **You guys can come to my place around seven.**_

_**Sounds good.** _

_Jai sets his phone down and goes back to working on his prototype._

* * *

_At exactly seven o'clock, there's a knock on the door. Jai's not surprised, Fiero is notorious for being insanely punctual._

_Jai opens the door and standing there is Fiero with his girlfriend._

_He studies her. She's taller than he'd expected. Her hair is chestnut brown, her eyes are piercing emerald green, and she seems to be someone you should be intimidated by, but Jai isn't and he thinks she knows that._

_"Hey, man," Fiero says._

_"Hi," Jai replies._

_"This is Francesca," Fiero introduces._

_Jai extends a hand in courtesy. She shakes it and barely smiles back._

_"You can just call me Frankie."_

_Jai nods with a smile, but there's something off about her. She doesn't seem to be Fiero's type at all._

_They settle on the couch and Jai sits on an armchair to their right. He's uncomfortable at how touchy they are being with each other not even two minutes after they've entered his apartment._

_Fiero has his arm around Frankie and Jai swallows down a snarky comment._

_"Do you guys want beers?" Jai offers._

_Fiero nods. Frankie shrugs._

_Jai looks around and scoffs. She doesn't seem to be the friendly type._

_He grabs three beers from the fridge and hands on to Fiero, then to Frankie._

_Fiero thanks him, Frankie once again nods and barely smiles._

_It's decided, he doesn't like her._

_No one talks for a minute, letting awkward silence fill the air as Fiero casually sips his beer while Jai and Frankie wait for someone to break it._

_Jai eventually breaks it._

_"So, Frankie. What do you do for a living?" Jai asks._

_He's initiating small talk. He never does, but he wants to see if his instincts are right about her._

_"I work for the CIA as well," she answers._

_Her response leaves Jai a bit surprised, but it then makes sense to him about how Fiero met her and the shock fades._

_"Oh, really? So, you met Fiero through the CIA?"_

_"We were put on an assignment together and hit it off," Fiero responds._

_Frankie smiles at him, but Jai isn't convinced. There's still something about her Jai can't quite put his finger on, but he'll figure it out later._

_"Nice place," Frankie comments plainly._

_"Thanks, I designed everything it myself."_

_"I didn't ask for the details."_

_"Hey, I'll be right back, I need to use the bathroom. Excuse me for a sec." Fiero gets up from his seat and leaves Frankie and Jai alone together._

_Jai waits until the bathroom door shuts and turns to Frankie._

_"You and Fiero make a cute couple," he says dryly._

_"I know we do," she responds._

_He squints his eyes at her. "I don't like you."_

_She raises her brows and acts surprised, but Jai knows she's being sarcastic. "Oh, that's funny, I don't like you either."_

_Jai smirks. "Well, then. Seeing as we both don't want anything to do with the other, I suggest we do our best to keep our distance. You and Fiero can spend time together, Fiero and I can hang out, but we won't do it as a group."_

_Frankie shrugs. "Sounds like a plan."_

_Jai nods. "Then it's settled. We won't be with each other after today."_

_Fiero comes out from the bathroom._

_"Hey, guys. What'd you talk about while I was gone?"_

_"Nothing much," Frankie replies._

_Jai sighs. "Yeah, nothing much."_

* * *

_A week passes and Jai and Frankie have been forced to hang out three more times since the first time at Jai's._

_Fiero thinks Frankie and Jai hit it off, but he doesn't know what they said to each other that night in Jai's apartment, so he continues to believe what he believes._

_They're hanging out at the shooting range this time._

_Jai's annoyed because that's his and Fiero's favorite place to hang out and Fiero's brought Frankie._

_Fiero and Jai play several rounds of their favorite game of who can unload their clip the fastest and most accurately, and it's no surprise Jai is winning by a landslide after their tenth round._

_Frankie eventually shows interest in playing._

_She smirks when Jai beats Fiero once again and Fiero asks her what's so funny._

_She shrugs. "You're a pretty good shot," she says to Jai._

_Her sentence lacks all its usual sass and curtness when she says it and that's when Jai realizes, for the first time, she's actually complimenting him for real._

_"Um, thanks."_

_"I want to give it a go," she says._

_Fiero sighs. "All right, baby, but you're going to get destroyed by me."_

_Frankie laughs. "I don't want to go against you, dumbass." She gestures her head towards Jai._

_He's surprised._

_"What? C'mon, just because he's beating me, doesn't mean I won't beat you," Fiero argues._

_She shakes her head. "Step aside, babe," she says as she waves him away._

_Fiero scoffs. Jai smirks._

_"As Fiero said, 'you're going to get destroyed,'" Jai warns._

_Frankie scoffs and nods. "We'll see about that."_

_They raise their guns to their targets and glance over to each other. They give each other the same evil grin before looking forward ._

_They wait for Fiero's count._

_Fiero smirks and begins counting down. "Three...two. .."_

_"L et's hope you aim better than you dress," Frankie whispers to Jai._

_"...one...go!"_

_They empty their clips and both set their guns down at the same time._

_Fiero swears in Italian._

_Jai's jaw drops. He's stunned._

_Frankie may have emptied her clip as fast as Jai did, but she managed to put a bullet in the same hole with each bullet she shot, leaving one single hole in her target._

_"Looks like you've finally met someone who's a better shot than you." Fiero laughs in disbelief._

_Jai is speechless._

_Frankie plays it cool. "Look who's the one who got destroyed," she teases._

_Jai scoffs with a laugh. "We're going again."_

_Frankie shrugs. "You're only embarrassing yourself more."_

_"We'll see."_

_Frankie laughs._

_Jai laughs with her._

_**Maybe she's not the worse person in the world after all.** _

* * *

_A week._

_One week until Jai is presenting his final product to Director Perry._

_The past month has been crazy for him._

_Jai and Frankie managed to become almost better friends than he and Fiero are, and he won't admit it, but he's happy they don't hate each other anymore._

_He's working on another prototype for his gas device when his phone rings._

_He answers the call. "Hi, mother."_

_"Jai! Everything's all set, we'll be there in New York in one week for your birthday!" She tells him._

_"Can't wait!"_

_"Oh, another thing. Your father and I were wondering if we could possibly meet Fiero and that girlfriend of his? You know, the one who you've become close to as well?"_

_"Oh, um." Jai isn't sure if he should say yes._

_"Please, Jai!" She whines. "I can cook up something for the five of us," she suggests._

_He sighs. "All right, fine."_

_He hears her squeal a little in excitement. "See you in a week!"_

_"Yeah. Bye, I love you."_

_"Love you, Jai."_

_He hangs up a phone and there's a knock on the door promptly after._

_He leaves his work station and goes to the door, only to open it to Frankie and Fiero standing on the other side of it._

_"Um, hi?" He says with a frown._

_"Hey, man, just thought we could have a few beers. Also, could you settle an argument Frankie and I are having?"_

_Frankie rolls her eyes._

_They walk over to his couch and Jai still stands by his entrance with the door still open._

_"Oh, of course, you can come in. Yeah, I'm not doing anything right now," he mumbles._

_He shuts the door and joins them in the living room. Fiero has already grabbed three beers from Jai's fridge and hands one to Frankie, then to Jai._

_"So, Franks and I are having a debate on which show is better: **How I Met Your Mother** or **Friends**."_

_Jai scoffs. "That's easy."_

_"Thank you," Fiero says._

_" **How I Met Your Mother** by a landslide."_

_Fiero's smile vanishes and he squints at Jai. "Traitor."_

_Jai shrugs._

_Frankie beams, pleased with the end of their debate. "Told you, babe."_

_Fiero huffs. "Whatever. You don't even meet the mother for what feels like an eternity."_

_Frankie rolls her eyes._

_"Hey, guys. Can I ask you something?" Jai says._

_Fiero and Frankie nod._

_"My parents are coming into town for my birthday in a week and they wanted to meet both of you. Do you guys want to come over for dinner that day to meet them?"_

_Frankie swallows. Fiero accepts for the both of them immediately._

_Jai smiles, but can't help but notice Frankie's inability to give an answer to him._

_"Can't wait to meet your parents," Fiero says. "You always are taking phone calls from your mamma,_

_"That reminds me." Fiero pulls out a box from his pocket and hands it to Jai. "I know it's a week early, but I'm afraid I'll lose it before I could even give it to you on your birthday."_

_Jai opens the box to reveal a silver watch he'd been eyeing for over a month now._

_"Fiero, you didn't have to, man."_

_He shakes his head. "No, no, please. Try it on," he urges._

_Jai puts it on and stares at it._

_"Pretty neat, huh?"_

_Jai smiles. "Yeah, thanks, Fiero."_

_Fiero nods. "You're very welcome. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to use your bathroom." He gets up and leaves Frankie and Jai alone together._

_Jai turns to Frankie. "What's wrong?" He asks._

_She acts surprised. "Nothing's wrong, what do you mean?"_

_"Franks. Tell me."_

_She's silent. Jai is sure she won't tell him, but eventually, she lets out a sigh and sits up straight in her seat._

_"In a week, it'll be the anniversary of my parents' deaths," she says._

_Jai blinks in surprise. He was not expecting that._

_"I know that even though you'll deny it, you want to know how they died, so I'll just tell you."_

_Jai listens to her more intently._

_"The second semester of my junior year in high school, they decided to make a surprise visit to me at my school while I was studying abroad in Australia. They died in a terrorist attack on their way there."_

_Jai gets the chills. He isn't sure how to help her because he sucks at comforting others. "I'm sorry, Frankie," is all he can say._

_She's trying her best to fight back tears, but Jai sees a single one roll down her cheek and he puts a hand on her knee to help comfort her to the best of his ability._

_"Sorry, I usually can control my emotions when I talk about this," she sniffles._

_Jai shakes his head. "No, it's all right." He pauses and his foot begins tapping at a moderate pace. "I'm not too good at comforting people and I usually would say to suck it up, but I won't here. The two people you loved most in this world were ripped from your life, and you think you need to be the strong woman they hope you'd grow up to be, but you aren't human if you don't show emotion at some points in your life. Let it out, be human."_

_She smiles at him._

_He pats her leg and nods._

_She draws in a long breath. "I don't usually work on the anniversary of their death and the thought of being around your parents on it brought all these emotions I thought I'd managed to bury down."_

_"You don't have to come, I understand, Frankie. My parents will too."_

_"No, I'm going. I don't care. It's your birthday, I want to be there."_

_Jai smiles at her._

_There's another pause before Jai glances at Frankie with a smirk._

_"Studying abroad in **high school**? You were definitely a rich kid."_

_Frankie scoffs. "I went to private school, so?"_

_"A private school that lets you study abroad at another school halfway across the world," Jai adds._

_Frankie laughs at him. "Fine, my family may have had **some** money, but it's not mine."_

_"You had a trust fund, didn't you?" Jai says._

_"Do you have more beer?" Frankie asks, ignoring his question._

_Jai scoffs. "That's_ _a yes."_

_Frankie shrugs._

_Jai smirks._

_"Um, I actually bought you a gift too, but Fiero doesn't know because he didn't want me spending so much money."_

_Jai's brows raise._

_She hands him another box and Jai opens it. He frowns._

_"They're cufflinks with hidden blades in them. You'd never notice."_

_Jai scoffs. "Wow," he breathes. "Thanks, Frankie."_

_She smiles. "You're welcome."_

_Fiero re-enters the living room and shakes the water off his hands._ _"What'd I miss?"_

_Frankie and Jai glance at each other._

_"Nothing much," Jai responds._

_Frankie grins. "Yeah, nothing much."_

* * *

_Jai spends the majority of his birthday in his workroom._

_He's running a test for his latest prototype and prays this is the one._

_His computer is analyzing his data and testing his design when it stops loading and a message pops up on the screen._

_'Model Success.'_

_Jai's eyes go wide and he laughs in disbelief. "Well, shit!"_

_He stares at the computer screen, with his hands resting at the back of his head._

_He smiles. "Best birthday ever," he says._

* * *

_Fiero and Frankie arrive at Jai's apartment for dinner an hour early._

_Jai opens the door, they both wish him a happy birthday, and he thanks them._

_"When are your parents coming?" Fiero asks._

_"They should be here shortly," he answers._

_"Sounds good. I'm just going to run to the bathroom real quick." Fiero smiles and leaves._

_Jai glances over to Frankie. "Hey."_

_She looks up at him._

_"You sure you want to do this?"_

_Frankie nods. "Yeah, I'll be fine."_

_Jai smiles at her._

_Fiero returns. "Jai, what's that room in the back of your apartment?"_

_"Oh, it's just an extra room."_

_"Why is there a keypad?" He questions._

_"Safe room. Just in case."_

_Fiero nods. "Uh-huh."_

_There's a knock on the door._

_Jai goes to open it and his parents smile as soon as they see him._

_"Jai!"_

_"Hi, mother!" Jai hugs his mom as she enters his apartment._

_"Son!" Jai's father extends his hand and Jai shakes it before hugging him._

_"How's the hotel? Are they treating you right?" He questions._

_His mother nods. "They're taking excellent care of us, no need to worry."_

_Jai gestures towards Frankie and Fiero. "Well, I know you two have been wanting to meet them, so here they are. Mother, father, this is Fiero, and this is Frankie."_

_Frankie and Fiero shake his parents' hands and say hi._

_"Hello, I'm Gurpreet," Jai's dad says as he shakes their hands._

_"Wow, you're a lucky man, Fiero. Frankie, you're very beautiful," his mother comments._

_Frankie smiles. "Oh, thank you, Mrs. Datta."_

_"Please, don't be so formal. My name is Priya."_

_She smiles back at Frankie and sighs. "Well, I promised you all a meal, so let me start cooking!"_

_She marches over to the kitchen and starts acting like she owns the place, which Jai isn't very amused by._

_Jai and his father share a drink with Frankie and Fiero as his mother prepares their meal._

_Fiero only has a few sips of his beer before getting up and going into the kitchen. "Priya, can I help?"_

_She waves him off. "Oh, no. No, you're very kind, but it's all right."_

_"No, please, I love to cook, and I love to help out, so I insist. What can I help with?"_

_She smiles at him and sighs. "You can help me make the marinade for the chicken if you'd like."_

_Fiero nods and happily says he'll do it._

_"So, Frankie," Gurpreet says, "where are you from?"_

_"I grew up here in New York until I was sixteen."_

_"Did you grow up in the city?"_

_"No, I grew up in Scarsdale."_

_"Rich Girl," Jai whispers mockingly._

_Frankie subtly rolls her eyes at him._

_"Oh, I have a few friends I used to work with at an old private practice who moved there."_

_"You worked for a practice? What's your specialty?" Frankie asks._

_"I'm an anesthesiologist."_

_Frankie's brows raise. "Oh, how interesting." She glances over to Jai and mouths, "Rich Boy."_

_Jai smirks._

_Frankie, Jai, and his dad talk for a while until Jai's mom finally says dinner is ready._

_They all sit down at the table Jai set up in his living room and the food is served._

_"I'd like to propose a toast," Fiero says, raising his glass. "Jai, you're one of the most intelligent and brilliant people I've ever met and I'm so happy to be celebrating your birthday with you. Happy birthday, man."_

_They clink their glasses together and all go to take a sip, but Jai accidentally spills some of his drink on his shirt._

_"Shoot. I should go change, give me a second."_

_Jai excuses himself from the table and heads to his bedroom. He selects his second favorite outfit from his closet to wear. After he gets dressed, he sees the watch Fiero gave him and decides to put it on, but notices something._

_He frowns and flips the watch over to reveal a tiny red light flashing._

_"What the...?" Jai inspects it more carefully and instantly realizes what it is._

_It's a tracker._

_Jai races over to his door and shuts it. He makes sure it's locked before sitting on the edge of the bed with the watch in his hand._

_He stares at the little light that's blinking and studies it. He gets up to grab a tool from his top dresser drawer and he extracts the tracking device from the watch._

_He frowns while holding it up close to his eyes. **Why the hell did Fiero put a tracker in this?**_

_Then it hits Jai. A wave of memories comes flooding back to him where he, Fiero, and Frankie are all hanging out in his apartment, and Fiero is saying,_ **_I have to use the bathroom._ **

_Jai's mind begins to spin. All those times Fiero's gone to the bathroom shouldn't have taken that long._

_**Jai what's the room in the back of your apartment?** _

_"Shit."_

_Jai rushes out of his room and sees his parents unconscious in their seats._

_"What the-"_

_Fiero points a gun towards Jai and Frankie is aiming hers at his parents._

_"Oh, good. I see you changed," Fiero says._

_"Fiero, what the hell is going on?" He walks towards him, but Fiero's finger hovers over the trigger and he stops. "What do you want from me?" Jai orders._

_"Now, now, there is no need to be upset," Fiero assures him. His tone has changed into someone Jai knows nothing about. This isn't the best friend he knows._

_"I've noticed over the past three months something very interesting, Jai. I rarely see you show affection towards anyone, it's pretty much your specialty. So, when I needed to find something to break you, who should come calling but your mom!"_

_"What did you do to them?"_

_"Don't worry, I added a bit of my own special sauce into their food while I was helping your mom out, they won't remember any of this."_

_Jai's heart begins racing and his fists ball up at his sides. "What do you want," he growls._

_"Oh, it's quite simple. See, I know all about that little project of yours and what it really is. Our boss would really love to get his hands on the device you've been building for the CIA."_

_"Over my dead body."_

_Fiero's brows raise. He takes that as a challenge. "Hm. What about your parents' dead bodies? Would you hand it over then? Frankie-"_

_"Frankie, don't!"_

_Jai studies her expression and can tell in an instant, she won't shoot. Not if he can convince her._

_"_ _Look at me, Frankie."_

_She keeps her attention on Jai's parents._

_"Look at me, Francesca."_

_She glances over to him when he says her full name._

_"The other night, do you remember what you told me about today?"_

_She doesn't answer._

_"Frankie I know what today is and you do too. Please, Frankie."_

_"Don't listen to him," Fiero snaps._

_She looks away from him, but he catches her attention again._

_"Frankie, you wouldn't do this. I know you wouldn't." He sighs when she doesn't say anything. "I can't say I can relate to the pain you must be feeling today, but I very well may be on the verge of knowing it if you pull that trigger. Please, Frankie. Just once...be human."_

_Her body stiffens and she swallows._

_"Don't listen to him, Frankie, we need to follow orders."_

_Frankie's eyes dart around in every directions except for Jai and Fiero's. She begins to lower her gun when Fiero quickly swipes her gun out of her hand, wraps an arm around her throat, and puts his gun to her temple._

_"I'll kill her, Jai. You know me. I never make promises I can't keep."_

_Jai clenches his jaw._

_"Now. You're going to get your device, bring it out here, and hand it to me, all right? Otherwise, Frankie won't live to see another day."_

_Jai swallows then nods. He leaves and goes to retrieve the device._

_He swiftly enters the pin on the keypad, then grabs the device as soon as he gets in the room. He turns to leave with the device in his hands when he notices a box sitting on the counter near the door._

_His eyes widen and he quickly places the device down before grabbing the box and opening it. He takes out the cufflinks Frankie had given him for his birthday and hastily switches the ones he has on with them. He quickly grabs the device and goes back out to the living room._

_"Good. Now hand it over," Fiero says when he sees the device in Jai's hand._

_Jai moves to hand the device to Fiero when he notices Frankie frown at him._

_She looks down at his sleeve and sees the cufflinks._

_Her head moves forward a bit and Jai subtly nods at her._

_"Give it," Fiero orders._

_He_ _extends his hand out to reach for the device and just before he can grab hold of it, Jai slices one big line down Fiero's arm with his cufflink._

_Fiero retreats his arm back and screams in pain. Frankie takes her opportunity, manages to elbow Fiero backward, and knock his gun out of his hand._

_He falls to the ground and goes to reach Frankie's gun, but she kicks it away near Jai's feet, and Jai quickly seizes it._

_Jai points his gun at Fiero and is ready to pull the trigger when Frankie stops him._

_"Wait, wait! No, Jai!"_

_"He deserves to be dead for what he's done."_

_Frankie shakes her head. "He dies, they'll kill me."_

_Jai glances at her._

_She puts a hand on his arm to lower his gun._

_"We leave him here like this, they won't find out."_

_Jai sighs and glimpses at his still unconscious parents. "C'mon. Let's go."_

_Frankie and Jai head off with his parents and leave Fiero to be something they'll deal with later._

* * *

_It's no surprise Jai's parents wake up disoriented._

_Frankie sits outside their hotel room as Jai makes up a lie about how Fiero wasn't feeling well so they had to cancel the dinner—well's not completely a lie._

_They ask questions, but Jai answers them with more lies._

_When he walks out of their room after what feels like an eternity to Frankie, she shoots up from the ground._

_"How'd it go? Are they all right?"_

_Jai sighs. "They're fine. Confused. But, fine."_

_"Jai-"_

_"I trusted you."_

_Frankie stiffens and swallows._

_"For a whole month you lied to me. You lied about Fiero, you lied about your job, you lied about who you were. Is your name even Frankie? Did your parents actually die?"_

_"Yes. All of it is still true. Please believe me when I say that during all those memorable times we had, I wasn't faking it, Jai."_

_Jai slides against the wall and down to the floor. He settles his hands on his knees and rubs his face. "I don't know if I can do this anymore."_

_"What do you mean?" Frankie asks._

_"Be a spy. My parents nearly died today for something I was assigned to do. This job is becoming too much."_

_Frankie sits next to him._

_"Then come with me. Leave behind your job at the CIA. I'll get us jobs, you'll become a valuable person in my work, trust me."_

_Jai looks at her and wants to hate her. But he can't. Something about her makes him want to do anything for her._

_He nods. "Okay."_

* * *

_"Agent Datta, welcome."_

_Director Perry shakes Jai's hand as he enters his office._

_He sits across from his desk._

_"Three months ago I assigned you to create a device that deploys gases, and now, today, I'd like you to show me what you've done."_

_Jai nods._ _He pulls the device out of a box along with blueprints, data, and other files to show Director Perry._

_The whole process of explaining his design and showcasing his device takes Jai around an hour before Director Perry is satisfied._

_"Well, Agent. I'm very pleased with your work."_

_"Thank you, sir."_

_"Since you've proved yourself to be a very talented operative, I have a new assignment for you."_

_"No, I'm sorry, sir. I quit."_

_Director Perry's brows raise in surprise. "You, what?"_

_"I quit. Thank you for the opportunities you've given me."_

_Jai extends a hand to Director Perry and he shakes it, but it's evident that he's still in shock._

_"Goodbye, sir." Jai leaves his office and heads to the elevators._

_Frankie's waiting outside for Jai when he walks out of the doors to the building._

_"You ready?"_

_He turns and takes a glimpse at the building, then looks back to Frankie._

_"Let's do this."_

* * *

_One year is all it takes for Frankie and Jai to become two of the most valuable assassins in the game._

_They've taken a job with their friend to kill a high-ranking member of the Mallorcan parliament._

_"Hey," Jai whispers as he and his friend wait in the hall of the parliament member's mansion. "Where did Frankie say she was going?"_

_Liam gestures his head towards the stairs. "She went upstairs to see if the security is gone."_

_Jai frowns. "It's been too long, she should've returned by now. I'll be back. Stay put."_

_Liam nods._

_Jai makes his way up the first flight of stairs. Nothing._

_A voice can be heard coming from the end of the hall when he makes his way up the second set of stairs._

_He follows the noise and peeks through the crack of the door leading into the room at the end of the hall to see a man pointing a gun at someone._ _Jai notices his face is scratched up and he has blood on his arm._

_Jai shifts himself to see more inside the room through the crack. He sees Frankie trying to get up from a beating and doesn't think twice about what he does next._

_He bursts into the room and shoots the man._

_Frankie groans as she finally can sit up._

_"Hey, you okay?" Jai runs over to her._

_She waves him off. "I'm fine, don't worry about me."_

_Jai begins to stare at her forehead and she frowns._

_"What?"_

_"You're bleeding."_

_She puts lifts a hand and winces when she touches the top of her head._

_"Hey, hey. Don't touch it."_

_Frankie sighs. "I'm tired, Jai."_

_He nods. "I know, it's okay."_

_"No." She shakes her head. "I'm tired of **this**."_

_Jai's expression changes. "Oh."_

_"Look what we're doing, Jai. We're here to kill a guy who our handler had one argument with when they were kids." She lets out a long breath. "_ _Aren't **you** tired, Jai?"_

_He sighs. "Sometimes."_

_Frankie nods._

_"I didn't tell you, but Director Perry tried contacting me to ask if I'd come back to the CIA."_

_"Oh." She lowers her head._

_"Hey," Jai whispers._

_Frankie looks at him._

_"Do you want out?"_

_She frowns._

_"I can get us out."_

_A glimmer of hope appears on her face._

_Jai takes her hand._

_"You want out, I'll get us out. But if you want to stay in, I'll stay with you." He squeezes her hand. "I've got your back."_

_A soft smile forms on her lips._

_"So, what's it going to be Francesca?"_

_There's a beat of silence before she says anything._

_"Out."_

* * *

_Jai observes all the changes which have happened in one year since he'd quit. Director Perry's office, however, remains the same._

_"Agent Datta, welcome back."_

_"Hello, sir."_

_They shake hands._

_Jai turns. "This is, Francesca Trowbridge, sir. I spoke to you on the phone about her."_

_"Oh, yes. Pleasure to meet you, Francesca."_

_Director Perry tells them to take a seat across from his desk._

_"Now, as I mentioned on the phone, Agent Datta, you will be fully reinstated as an Agent here."_

_Jai nods._

_Director Perry turns to Frankie._

_"Miss Trowbridge, Agent Datta here has already told me you meet all the requirements needed for this position and while I trust that he's correct, you'll just need to go through a few tests before you can be an official operative here."_

_"Thank you, sir," Frankie says._

_He smiles. "Welcome to the CIA."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please let me know your thought and comments! I always love to hear your guys' feedback on each chapter!


	19. I've Always Got Your Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frankie helps Jai cope with recent events. Ray confides in Will when he can no longer keep his secret a secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! First of all, I'm so sorry I made you all wait so long for another chapter! With everything that was and is still going on in the world, I thought it was best if I took a break from posting. The break actually was a good thing for me because I was dealing with some things in my personal life, so it was nice to have a break. Second, this chapter is short, I know I'm sorry, especially considering I gave you all such a long one last week. Don't worry though, I think if many of you were fans of the last chapter, you'll enjoy the next update's chapter! With that being said, I hope you all enjoy the new chapter! Also, I missed you guys!

"You know you couldn't have, Jai," Frankie says. "Why do you keep telling yourself that?"

"Because Will wouldn't have been shot and you wouldn't have been such a complete wreck over him!" Jai snaps.

Frankie stares at him and her expression shifts. She frowns in disbelief. "You didn't do this, Jai."

He shakes his head. "I did. I caused all of this because of one choice I made."

"No." Frankie grabs his hand and squeezes it. "You don't get to blame yourself for something you didn't do. Don't be ridiculous, Jai."

"I had my finger over the trigger, I could have easily-"

"Who told you not to pull the trigger, Jai?" She cuts in.

He swallows. "You."

"Who would have died if you'd pulled the trigger, Jai?"

"You."

She sighs. "Exactly, Jai. Me. _I_ was the one who caused this. Do not take the blame for my actions."

He shakes his head.

Frankie insists. "What happened here today was _not_ your fault. Don't even think for a second that you're going to win this argument, Jai."

Jai opens his mouth, but no words come out. He stares at Frankie. His eyes tell her everything she needs to know what his next move will be.

He lets out a sigh instead of arguing and shakes his head. "I saw the way you were when Will got shot."

She frowns and shrugs. "And?"

"I know you have feelings for him, Francesca."

Frankie hides the smile forming on her lips. _It's a little more than that._

It's so hard not to tell him. She said to Will she doesn't want to tell Jai, and she stands by that. She can't tell him. Not when he's so stressed. Her reaction needs to be the old I-won't-admit-my-feelings-Frankie, otherwise, Jai will know.

"Don't be ridiculous, Jai," she says, letting go of his hand with a scoff.

"I'm serious. When Susan almost lost Ray, I told her to tell him how she felt."

Frankie's brows furrow. "We didn't know if Ray was going to make it, that's different."

Jai sighs. "But with this type of work that we do, we never know when our last words or final moments will be. Tell Will before it's too late."

It's not like Jai to be such a romantic—well, at least the old Jai would never be one—but he's changed since they met the team. He does chest bumps, smiles more, and opens up more. It makes Frankie proud.

"Jai," Frankie says with a sigh, "What happened today won't be something we're going to go through again. From now on, we'll know what to be careful of with Ollerman, you'll make more weapons and gadgets to protect us, Standish will create some facial recognition software that picks up where Ollerman is, Ray will update us on all intel he has, and everything will be fine. None of us are going anywhere, which is why I don't need to tell Will anything."

Jai squints at her. "It grosses me out at how you sound more like Will than Will does these days."

Frankie smirks. "I know me too."

Jai chuckles.

She takes his hand in hers again. "Don't forget," she says with a smile. "I've always got your back."

* * *

Will grips the remote to the TV as he searches for new channels to watch. He's already watched _You've Got Mail_ and _Sleepless in Seattle,_ but they aren't the same without Frankie's snarky comments.

He finds the channel for ABC and immediately switches it to another channel. He sighs and shakes his head. "They always cancel their best shows," he says to himself.

Eventually, he stumbles upon a re-run of _How I Met Your Mother_ airing and he knows Frankie would kill him if she knew he was watching without her _._ He's tempted to change the channel again, but one of his favorite episodes from the second season is playing.

"I'm going to kill you."

Will nearly jumps out of his seat when he turns around from the couch to see Frankie taking her shoes off near the door. 

He rests his hand on his heart and laughs. "Don't do that to me, Frankie."

She holds up her hands and nods. "Oh, right sorry. You're old and could have a heart attack."

He squints at her and laughs mockingly. She laughs for real.

"I can't believe you'd watch _How I Met Your Mother_ without me."

"Don't act like you haven't watched my 'zombie show' as you like to call it, without me. I see you becoming invested in scenes when it's on."

She scoffs. "Please, I haven't watched that since my favorite character left."

Will raises a brow. "So you have watched it?"

"Are you hungry?" She asks with a smirk.

He rolls his eyes as a smile forms on his lips.

"What time is the reservation for that restaurant?" Frankie asks.

Will's eyes shift to the ground and he sighs. "8:30."

Frankie glances at her watch and feels instant guilt. 9:16 pm.

"Don't worry about it. I told you it wasn't a big deal, remember?" Will says, in an attempt to make her feel better.

She nods with a faint smile and sits next to Will. His arm instantly finds its way around her and he pulls her closer to him.

"I'm sorry," she says, looking up at him.

He shakes his head. "Don't be. I told you, it wasn't a big deal." 

She sighs. "I suck at this."

Will frowns at her. "At what?"

"This. Being in a relationship."

Will looks offended. "Are you joking?"

"We've been together for, what? Not even a week? And yet you already planned a surprise dinner for me." She shakes her head. "What have _I_ done?"

He takes her words as a challenge. "You make me laugh, you make me smile if I simply see you...and you're pretty good in the bedroom," he says with a smirk.

She scoffs. "Please, I'm not good, I'm incredible."

Will raises his brow. "Are you sure about that?"

She frowns. "Is that a bad thing, Whiskey?"

"Oh, believe me. It is _far_ from being a bad thing," he replies.

Frankie laughs.

He sighs. "And that laugh. God, I love that laugh. I'd never stop making jokes if it meant I could hear that sound forever."

Frankie swears her heart skips a beat. The corners of her mouth instantly turn up. It's such a Will Chase thing for him to say, and she knows he really would make jokes all day if he wanted to hear her laugh.

"We should see if you're really as incredible as you say you are in the bedroom,". Will says with an evil look.

She rolls her eyes. "Kepp it in your pants, Whiskey. I've had a day."

Will smirks. "Room service and _How I Met Your Mother?"_ He suggests.

"Say it again, it sounds so sexy," she jokes.

He repeats himself and moves close to her ear. "And maybe a bottle of tequila," he adds with a whisper, instantly sending a cool shiver down Frankie's spine.

She huffs. He knows what it does to her whenever he whispers into her ear. "No, tequila," she repeats.

"But-"

"If you ever want for what you think would follow after we drink tequila to actually happen, then I suggest you listen to me, Whiskey," she warns.

He huffs. "Fine."

Frankie smirks.

"Room service, _How I Met Your Mother,_ and...no tequila," he says with more disappointment in the last bit of his sentence.

She nods. "Good, boy," she responds teasingly.

Will narrows his eyes at her and she laughs when he resembles an upset child. 

"You're pretty adorable when you're offended," Frankie smirks.

He rolls his eyes. "I'm not a child, Frankie."

"Oh, sorry, big boy," she teases.

He shakes his head and can't help but chuckle a little. "Yeah, that's better," he says jokingly with a nod.

Frankie laughs and nestles closer to him.

He plants a kiss on her temple. "I love you," he whispers.

She smiles and stares up at him. He's gazing at her with those emerald green eyes she'd fell in love with the first time they'd met and she kisses him. "I love you."

They order room service afterward and watch ten episodes of _How I Met Your Mother_ before Frankie notices Will dozing off.

"Hey," she whispers. She nudges him, startling him awake. 

He looks dazed and blinks a few times. "What? I wasn't sleeping!" He says defensively.

Frankie smirks. "Mhmm. Okay, let's go to bed."

His brow raises with a wicked smile.

"Get your head out of the gutter, Whiskey. C'mon, time for bed."

He huffs and when Frankie goes to get up from the couch, he tightens his grip around her.

"Will, let's go," she says, trying to get out of his grasp.

"I'm comfortable here."

She looks at him and he's pouting.

Frankie scoffs. _Is he seriously giving me puppy dog eyes?_ She sighs and leans back. "All right, fine."

He hums, pleased with himself, and Frankie closes her eyes.

"Goodnight," he whispers.

Frankie doesn't answer.

Will frowns and glances at her to see she's already fallen asleep.

He smiles and plants a kiss on her head before letting himself drift off into a deep sleep.

* * *

Will doesn't know what time it is when he awakes to find Frankie's gone.

Panic begins to arise in his chest, but it fades when he checks his phone.

_Went for a run with Susan. Be back soon._

He lets out a sigh of relief.

His phone chimes once again.

_Can you meet me at the beach?_

It's Ray.

Will checks the time and glimpses over to the window. He groans. 

_The sun has barely come up, Ray._

Three dots appear, then disappear.

He moves to put his phone back onto the coffee table, but another text comes through.

_It's urgent._

Will sighs. _Be right down._

* * *

It's quiet when Will arrives at the beach. No one is up yet, the only person in sight is a man with a metal detector near the ocean, and the sun has started to come up. Will spots Ray near the volleyball net.

"Okay, this better be good, Ray. Why did you call me down to the beach at 6:20 am?"

"I needed to talk to you," Ray says.

"About what?"

Ray sighs. "I couldn't sleep last night."

Will furrows his brows. "What was keeping you up? Are you nervous about marrying Susan?"

"No, no." Ray shakes his head. "I got a call from Director Casey."

Will's expression shifts and he stiffens. "What'd he say?"

Ray lets out a long sigh and shakes his head.

"Ray, what is it?"

"Before I say anything, don't tell Susan okay."

Will frowns.

"Please, Will."

"Why can't I tell Susan?"

"I'm serious, Will," Ray asserts.

"But, why?" Will questions.

"Will, seriously. She doesn't know yet, please don't say anything," Ray says.

"Know what, Ray?"

"Oliver's dead."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the new chapter! Please make sure to leave a comment with your thoughts and ideas, as I always say, I love to hear them! I'm going to try and respond to your comments from now on!


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